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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Consultant George Santos (R-NY) leaves the Longworth Home Workplace constructing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Picture
By Karen Freifeld and Sarah N. Lynch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Consultant George Santos was arrested on Wednesday on federal fees of fraud, cash laundering and theft of public funds within the newest hit to the newly elected Republican, who has resisted calls to resign for mendacity about his resume.
The 13-count indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, fees Santos, 34, with defrauding potential political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his private bills and illegally receiving unemployment advantages whereas he was employed.
He’s additionally accused of constructing false statements to the Home of Representatives about his property, earnings and liabilities.
“Taken collectively, the allegations within the indictment cost Santos with counting on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself,” Breon Peace, the U.S. Legal professional for the Japanese District of New York, stated in an announcement.
“He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully utilized for unemployment advantages that ought to have gone to New Yorkers who had misplaced their jobs because of the pandemic, and lied to the Home of Representatives,” Peace stated.
Santos’s congressional workplace referred requests for remark to his counsel. An legal professional for Santos didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark concerning the indictment.
High Home Republicans, who management the chamber by a slim 222-213 margin, have to date stated they might withhold judgment on Santos. Speaker Kevin McCarthy instructed reporters on Wednesday, “In America, you are harmless till confirmed responsible.”
Shortly after Santos’ election in 2022 to symbolize a rich space of New York’s Lengthy Island, the New York Instances and different media shops revealed that he had fabricated nearly each facet of his private {and professional} historical past.
Amongst different claims, Santos stated he had levels from New York College and Baruch School regardless of neither establishment’s having any report of his attending. He claimed to have labored at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:) and Citigroup (NYSE:), which additionally was unfaithful.
He stated falsely that he was Jewish and that his grandparents escaped the Nazis throughout World Conflict Two. Santos, who identifies as homosexual, additionally didn’t disclose that he was married to a girl for a number of years ending in 2019.
He has since admitted to fabricating giant elements of his resume.
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