US

George Santos: Republican politician charged with fraud, money laundering and theft

George Santos: Republican politician charged with fraud, money laundering and theft

US Republican congressman George Santos has been arrested on federal charges of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.

The 34-year-old US politician has been charged on 13 counts including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the Justice Department.

Santos, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, was arrested ahead of an expected court appearance in New York.

The indictment charges Santos with defrauding prospective political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses and illegally receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed.

He is also accused of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets, income and liabilities.

Federal prosecutors have been examining false statement allegations in Santos’ campaign filings.

Since he was elected in November, Santos has been at the centre of a web of extraordinary revelations and accusations covering everything from his heritage to jobs he simply never held.

Shortly after his election victory, a New York Times investigation found a number of false claims he made on his CV about his personal and professional history.

Described by critics as a “total fraud”, he is accused of fabricating parts of his CV while running for Congress.

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Among other claims, Santos said he had degrees from New York University and Baruch College, despite neither institution’s having any record of his attending. He claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which also was untrue.

Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, has since admitted to “embellishing” parts of his resume, but continues to deny the more serious allegations.

Santos’s congressional office referred requests for comment to his counsel. A lawyer for Santos did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the indictment.