George Santos (Photo Credit: Devolder-Santos for Congress)
Republican Congressman George Santos of New York has been indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, on 13 counts that include embezzling money from his campaign, lying to Congress about his income and cheating his way into undeserved unemployment benefits.
According to The Associated Press, Santos is accused of inducing supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign. Instead he used it for personal expenses, including to buy designer clothes and to pay his credit cards and car payments.
Santos also is accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and applying for and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed as regional director of an investment firm that the government shut down in 2021 over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme.
Santos surrendered May 10 and was taken to a federal courthouse on Long Island, where he is expected to make an initial court appearance later today on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress.
