New York Congressman George Santos. (Screen shot via YouTube)
A complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission Jan. 9 by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleges a wide scope of campaign finance law violations by openly gay freshman Congressman George Santos (R-N.Y.) and his 2022 campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress.
Santos has been under fire for weeks after a series of exposés revealed the congressman has lied about virtually every aspect of his biography.
“Particularly in light of Santos’s mountain of lies about his life and qualifications for office, the commission should thoroughly investigate what appear to be equally brazen lies about how his campaign raised and spent money,” the Campaign Legal Center’s complaint alleges.
“George Santos has lied to voters about a lot of things, but while lying about your background might not be illegal, deceiving voters about your campaign’s funding and spending is a serious violation of federal law,” the group said in a statement announcing its complaint.
Specifically, per the statement, Santos and his campaign stand accused of engaging “in a straw donor scheme to knowingly and willfully conceal the true sources of $705,000 that Santos purported to loan to his campaign; deliberately reporting false disbursement figures on FEC disclosure reports, among many other reporting violations; and illegally using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including rent on a house that Santos lived in during the campaign.”
Before he was even sworn in, Santos attracted more controversy last week by appearing to flash the “white power” hand sign from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives as the chamber was voting for speaker.
Santos’ office did not return multiple requests for comment.
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