George Santos tricked supporters into giving him money that he spent on designer clothes and credit card payments, feds allege

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Rep. George Santos duped supporters into giving him money and spent thousands of it on designer clothes and credit card payments, federal prosecutors allege.

The embattled New York congressman surrendered to law enforcement at a federal court on Long Island on Wednesday and was criminally charged with several counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.

Prosecutors allege in the indictment that before Santos was elected to Congress he “executed a scheme to defraud supporters of his candidacy for the House and to obtain money from them by fraudulently inducing them to contribute funds” to an LLC he ran under the false pretense that the cash would be used to support his candidacy. 

Instead, Santos spent “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments,” prosecutors allege in the indictment.

A history of lies

Shortly after taking office in 2023, news reports surfaced detailing that Santos had lied about several key aspects of his background while he was on the campaign trail. 

Santos, a Catholic, repeatedly claimed to be Jewish while he was campaigning, a claim he later walked back while claiming he said he was “Jew-ish.” He also lied about the circumstances of his mother’s death while campaigning, falsely saying he went to two universities — both of which denied he attended — in addition to lying about his employment history. 

Santos has since apologized for the plethora of lies, which he simply referred to as an “embellishment.”

“If I disappointed anyone by my résumé embellishment, I’m sorry,” Santos said on WABC radio.

Santos 2024

In April, prior to being charged in New York, Santos announced his plan to run for a second term in office.

“I am proudly announcing my bid for re-election for #NY03. This is about TAKING BACK our country and restoring greatness back to New York,” Santos tweeted.

Running again may be tricky. Santos’ recent financial filings showed his campaign in dire straits: the campaign’s filings in the first quarter of 2023 revealed it had refunded more contributions than it brought in.