On Tuesday evening, federal prosecutors indicted and disgraced Rep. George Santos, (R-N.Y.), with several new crimes. These included campaign finance violations, for a fake donor scheme exposed by Mother Jones this year. The new counts, which were added to the existing indictment, also include wire fraud and a case of identity theft. The feds claim Santos used […] donors’ credit.
Mother Jones illustration by Aaron Schwartz, Xinhua, and Getty
Fight misinformation by subscribing to the completely Mother Jones Daily newsletter and keeping up with important news. Federal prosecutors charged and disgraced Rep. George Santos( R-N) on Tuesday evening. Y .) with a number of fresh offenses, such as campaign finance violations for Mother Jones’ earlier-this-year exposed fake-donor scheme. Wire fraud and identity theft are additional charges that have been added to the existing indictment. According to the feds, Santos engaged in illicit transactions using the credit cards of his donors, which resulted in money being transferred to his own campaign, other candidates’ campaigns, and personal bank account.
According to FBI Assistant Director James Smith in charge of the New York Field Office, Santos allegedly participated in numerous further deceptive criminal schemes while deceiving the American public.
Santos reportedly received what appeared to be false donations during his parliamentary campaigns in 2020 and 2022, which is a clear violation of national campaign finance laws, Mother Jones revealed earlier this year. Nancy Marks, his original treasurer, confirmed Mother Jones’ report by admitting last week that she assisted Santos in pulling off this con to artificially increase the fundraising totals for his campaign. Marks has been given a suggested prison term of up to four years. Santos entered a not guilty plea to 13 additional charges in May.
The list of lies he had told about his career and personal history kept growing after the New York Times revealed in December that the newly elected congressman had made up many of his resume. Santos erroneously asserted that he was Hebrew and that his ancestors had fled the Holocaust, that four of his employees had died in the Pulse nightclub shooting, or that the attacks on September 11 had claimed his mother’s life. He also claimed to have helped produce Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a musical that lost tens of millions of dollars.
Even though they were significant, these fabrications weren’t illegal. But, lying on a campaign finance report is. We discovered that some of Santos’ top-dollar donors did never appear to exist when we looked at his campaign finances from his second run for office in 2020. For instance, it was noted that Victoria and Jonathan Regor each contributed the legal maximum of$ 2,800 to the general election in their campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission. However, no one in the United States was known by the names Victoria or Jonathan Regor, and the New Jersey address that was provided for them was missing.
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In another instance, Stephen Berger, a retired man, was listed as residing on Brandt Road in Brawley, California. William Brandt was the actual resident of that address, according to public records. We were informed by a Brandt spokesperson that Stephen Berger had previously lived at the address and that he was unaware of any other people with the same name.
Other times, the obvious fraud was laughably careless. Rafael da Silva was one of the significant donors listed at a false address. That just so happened to be the name of a soccer player from Brazil who had played close to the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood where Santos again resided. Da Silva’s address was 15 West 57th Street, which is another odd coincidence. The One57 Group appeared to have been named after the opulent tower at 157 West 57th Street by Sam Miele, Santos’ fundraiser at the time. ( In August, Miele was charged with posing as Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s top aide while requesting donations. )
We even reported on the dubious presence of significant donations from Santos and Marks’ relatives, who was also his business partner, in SanTOs ‘ FEC filings. Members of the Santos family who worked as mail handlers, painters, and students were included in this group. We were informed that a Santos relative who was listed as having donated$ 5,800 did not participate in the campaign. Marks and her family contributed significantly to Santos’ 2022 campaign, totaling more than$ 30,000,000. This included Marks’ two students, who were 19 and 22 years older, respectively.
Santos allegedly used the fictitious donations and loan to gain more support from a national Democrat committee during the 2022 election, according to the superseding indictment. To be eligible for this assistance, his campaign had to demonstrate that it had raised$ 250,000.
Santos sent Marks a text message on January 31, 2022, stating that he was” lost and desperate” and asking her,” What did we figure out about the report?” The Santos campaign reported to the FEC that same day that$ 53, 200 in fictitious donations from relatives, including those Mother Jones afterwards identified, had been made. According to the new indictment,” none of the family members of [ Santos ] and Marks had made, or ever did make, the listed contributions ,” in contrast to Santos’ representations.
Additionally, the prosecution claims that a loan of$ 500,000 that the Santos campaign claimed to have received from the candidate in March 2022 never materialized. Santos seems to have made an effort to conceal the existence of that fictitious loan from supporters of his personal campaign. Did you get the wire done for the] first quarter ] loan? Santos was texted in March 2022 by a campaign official. Santos retorted,” That will be completed tomorrow and it won’t be a wire, banker check.” According to the most recent indictment, Santos had less than$ 8, 000 in his personal and business bank accounts at the time.
The new indictment details another scheme in which Santos reportedly made practically$ 16, 000 in donations to his campaign and related social committees using a donor’s credit. These contributions went beyond the legal restrictions on specific contributions to a candidate. Santos listed some of these donations under the name of a relative who is never named in the indictment to help get around that. ( FEC records indicate that Tiffany Devolder, his sister, was responsible. )
According to the indictment, Santos later attempted to make at least$ 44,800 in unauthorized charges using the donor’s credit cards. In one instance, Santos funneled almost$ 12, 000 to a business under his control using the card. He moved about all of that cash to a specific bank account after that day.
Santos was accused of using donations intended for a super-PAC to support his campaign to purchase upscale goods and various items, committing unemployment insurance fraud, and fabricating information on his parliamentary financial disclosure forms in his initial indictment.
Prosecutors oddly sidestepped the fraudulent donations at the time of that indictment. However, it became obvious that federal prosecutors would add similar charges to their case against Santos when Marks last week admitted guilt to a charge related to the fake-donor scheme as well as the plot to record the bogus$ 500, 000 loan. According to the charging documents in the Marks case, she committed her crime in total cooperation with Santos.
Santos has insisted that Marks went” renegade” in an effort to explain irregularities with his campaign’s FEC filings. Marks’ argument categorically refutes this assertion.
Santos is scheduled to appear in court once more on October 27. Federal prosecutors charged and disgraced Rep. George Santos( R – N ) on Tuesday evening. Y .) with a number of new offenses, such as campaign finance violations for an alleged fraudulent donor scheme that Mother Jones exposed earlier this year. Wire fraud and identity theft are additional charges that have been added to the existing indictment. Santos allegedly used his donors’ credit, according to the feds.
On Tuesday evening, federal prosecutors indicted and disgraced Rep. George Santos, (R-N.Y.), with several new crimes. These included campaign finance violations, for a fake donor scheme exposed by Mother Jones this year. The new counts, which were added to the existing indictment, also include wire fraud and a case of identity theft. The feds claim Santos used […] donors’ credit.
Mother Jones illustration; Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua/Getty. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.. On Tuesday evening, federal prosecutors charged already-indicted and disgraced Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) with several new crimes, including campaign finance violations for a fake-donor scheme exposed by Mother Jones earlier this year. These new counts added to the preexisting indictment also include wire fraud and identity theft. The feds claim that Santos used his donors’ credit cards to make unauthorized transactions that ended up transferring funds to his own campaign, the campaigns of other candidates, and his own bank account.. “Santos allegedly led multiple additional fraudulent criminal schemes, lying to the American public in the process,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office James Smith.. Earlier this year, Mother Jones broke the news that Santos had reported receiving what appeared to be fake donations during his 2020 and 2022 congressional campaigns–a straightforward violation of federal campaign finance laws. His former treasurer, Nancy Marks, confirmed Mother Jones’ reporting by pleading guilty last week to having helped Santos pull off this scam in order to falsely inflate his campaign’s fundraising totals. Marks is facing a recommended prison sentence of up to four years. In May, Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 other charges.. After the New York Times revealed in December that the newly elected congressman had made up much of his resume, the list of lies that he had told about his career and personal history continued to expand. Santos falsely claimed that he wrecked his knees playing on a college volleyball team that “slayed” Harvard and Yale; that he had helped produce Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a musical that lost tens of millions of dollars; that he was Jewish and that his ancestors had fled the Holocaust; that four of his employees died in the Pulse nightclub shooting; and that the attacks on 9/11 had taken his mother’s life.. These fabrications, while notable, were not criminal. Lying on a campaign finance report, however, is. When we examined Santos’ campaign finances from his first run for office in 2020, we found that many of his top-dollar donors did not seem to exist. For example, Victoria and Jonathan Regor were each recorded on his campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission as having donated the legal maximum of $2,800 in the general election. Public records, though, showed nobody named Victoria Regor or Jonathan Regor anywhere in the United States, and the New Jersey address listed for them did not exist.. Post by @motherjonesmag. View on Threads. In another case, a retiree named Stephen Berger was listed as living on Brandt Road in Brawley, California. Public records showed that William Brandt was the real resident of that address. A spokesperson for Brandt told us that Brandt had never donated to Santos, that no one named Stephen Berger had ever lived at the address, and that he did not know anyone by that name.. In other cases, the apparent fraud was comically sloppy. One of the major donors listed at a fake address was Rafael da Silva. That happened to be the name of a Brazilian soccer player who had played near where Santos once lived in the Rio de Janeiro area. Da Silva’s nonexistent address was 15 West 57th Street–another curious coincidence. Sam Miele, Santos’ fundraiser at the time, appeared to have named his company, the One57 Group, after the luxury tower at 157 West 57th Street. (In August, Miele was indicted for impersonating a top aide to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican, while soliciting donations.). We also reported on the suspicious presence within Santos’ FEC filings of large donations from relatives of Santos and Marks, who was also his business partner. This included Santos family members whose occupations were recorded in filings as mail handler, painter, and student. A Santos relative who was listed as having given $5,800 told us that they did not make any contribution to the campaign. Marks and her relatives made large donations to Santos’ 2022 campaign that totaled more than $30,000. This included Marks’ two children who were 19- and 22-year-old students.. The superseding indictment alleges that Santos used the fake donations and a fake loan to attract additional support from a national Republican committee during the 2022 race. His campaign had to show that it had raised $250,000 to qualify for this assistance.. On January 31, 2022, Santos texted Marks that he was “lost and desperate” and asked her “what did we figure out about the report.” That same day, the Santos campaign submitted a report to the FEC that listed $53,200 in fake donations from relatives, including the ones Mother Jones later identified. “Contrary to the representations made by” Santos, the new indictment states, “none of the family members of [Santos] and Marks had made, or ever did make, the listed contributions.”. Prosecutors also allege that a $500,000 loan the Santos campaign reported receiving from the candidate in March 2022 never actually occurred. Santos appears to have tried to keep members of his own campaign in the dark about that fake loan. In March 2022, a person affiliated with the campaign texted Santos, “Did you get the wire done for the [first quarter] loan?” Santos replied, “That’s getting done tomorrow and it’s not a wire, banker check.” Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts at the time, according to the latest indictment.. The new indictment describes another scheme in which Santos allegedly used a donor’s credit to make nearly $16,000 of donations to his campaign and associated political committees. These donations exceeded legal limits on individual contributions to a candidate. To help get around that, Santos listed some of these donations under the name of a relative who is not named in the indictment. (FEC records show that it was his sister, Tiffany Devolder.). Santos later used the donor’s credit cards to attempt to make at least $44,800 in unauthorized charges, according to the indictment. In one case, Santos used the card to funnel nearly $12,000 to a company he controlled. Later that day, he transferred almost all of that money to a personal bank account.. The original indictment of Santos charged him with using donations intended for a super-PAC supporting his campaign to pay for luxury goods and other items, committing unemployment insurance fraud, and making false statements on his congressional financial disclosure forms.. At the time of that indictment, prosecutors curiously sidestepped the fake donations. But when Marks last week pleaded guilty to a charge related to the fake-donor scheme, as well as the plot to record the false $500,000 loan, it became clear that federal prosecutors would add similar charges to their case against Santos. The charging documents in the Marks case alleged that Marks had committed her crime in full partnership with Santos.. In trying to explain irregularities with his campaign’s FEC filings, Santos has maintained that Marks went “rogue.” Marks’ plea directly contradicts this claim.. Santos is set to return to court on October 27.
