George Santos has been detained on federal criminal allegations, AP reports.
Santos, who surrendered to authorities at a federal courthouse in New York, is accused of seven charges of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of stealing from the government, and two counts of giving the House of Representatives materially false information.
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Social media has been flooding mugshot memes ever since his arrest.
Breon Peace, a US attorney stated that the indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.”
According to the 13-count indictment, Santos used campaign cash to buy for designer apparel and a car, illegally collected over $24,000 in unemployment benefits, and provided false information on his income and assets on House disclosure forms.
Santos’ lawyer was referred to CNBC by a representative for his office; however, the congressman’s counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Santos has been burdened by numerous problems ever since his election to Congress in January, and now he has been hit with criminal allegations. Weeks earlier, the freshman Republican declared his bid for reelection in 2024, defying demands for his resignation from opponents in both parties.
According to the Justice Department, Santos’s top offenses carry a potential 20-year jail sentence.
According to the indictment, Santos devised a conspiracy to deceive supporters of his congressional campaign into sending money to a Florida-based corporation he ran. It was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Prosecutors claimed that Santos used thousands of dollars of that money for personal needs like “luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”
Santos is accused of ordering an unnamed individual to misrepresent the company’s status as a charity organization and the purpose of the donations received: Santos’ congressional campaign. The indictment claims that Santos “converted most of those funds to his own personal benefit.”
Santos is also accused of making up an unemployment claim in order to be eligible for government assistance during the coronavirus outbreak. Santos earned about $120,000 annually as the regional director of an investment company at the time, according to the prosecution. He is accused of receiving around $24,744 in ill-gotten jobless benefits.
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Mr. Santos, a rookie legislator elected to the US House of Representatives in November, has been involved in scandal ever since he started office.
A number of accusations have been made against him, including that he broke campaign finance and conflict of interest laws, falsely claimed that his grandparents had survived the Holocaust, and set up a fictitious animal charity to steal money intended for a veteran’s dying dog. He has also been accused of lying about his college degrees and work experience.
Republican colleagues have joined calls for his resignation.
