This Update from the pitiful George Santos (May 11):
Wow, talk about utter hypocrisy — this from him takes the proverbial cake. Here
is this update in part from ABC News with this
headline:
“Santos co-sponsoring
bill to fight crime he's accused of”
Rep. George Santos (R-NY)
has co-sponsored a bill to crack down on a crime he is accused of.
The House voted on H.R. 1163, known as the “Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act,” today.
The bill, which passed
by a vote of 230-200, would provide incentives to help states recover money
that was lost to COVID unemployment fraud.
Under the bill, states would retain 25% of recovered
fraudulent overpayments and the statute of limitations for federal criminal
charges or civil enforcement actions related to unemployment insurance fraud
would be extended from five to 10 years.
Santos was just indicted on 13 criminal counts, including allegedly fraudulently
applying for and receiving unemployment benefits during the COVID pandemic when
he actually had a $120,000 salary working as a regional director of an
investment firm, according to the charging documents.
That is the pathetic
irony, isn’t it?
The original post follows:
As we all know by know Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has 13 Federal charges filed against him as listed here showing the 20-page indictment from THE DAILY BEAST
with this headline:
“Read All 13 Charges
Against George Santos Here
The indictment against Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was unsealed Wednesday morning (May 10) after he surrendered to federal authorities in NY.
He is expected to appear in a federal courthouse in Central Islip, on
Long Island, that same afternoon.
Briefly, Santos is
Charged With:
1. Seven
counts of wire fraud,
2. Three
counts of money laundering,
3. One count of theft of public funds, and,
4. Two making materially false statements to Congress.
Specifics in the indictment posted from TIME here and to see what happens next:
More than half of the charges relate to allegations that
Santos solicited donations from political donors and then pocketed the funds
for personal expenses.
Prosecutors allege that then-candidate Santos directed an
unnamed person to solicit donations to a company he falsely represented both as
a social welfare organization and a super PAC that would be used to purchase
television advertisements for his 2022 campaign.
The donations were purportedly transferred to Santos’s personal
bank accounts, which he used to buy designer goods and pay off personal debts,
according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors accused Santos of committing five counts of wire
fraud by falsely telling potential donors that contributions would be used for
his congressional campaign.
Prosecutors also charged Santos with three counts of money
laundering in connection to the scheme.
Prosecutors also charged Santos with two more counts of wire
fraud and one count of stealing public money as part of an unemployment
insurance fraud scheme. They claim that in June 2020, in the early months of
the COVID-19 pandemic, Santos applied for unemployment benefits in NY even
though he was at the time employed by a Florida-based investment firm and
earned an annual salary of $120,000.
Prosecutors said he
falsely certified that he was unemployed, and collected more than $24,000 from
the state in benefits.
Note on that hypocrisy: As a lawmaker, Santos was part of a group of GOP
lawmakers pushing for stronger work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Prosecutors said Santos overstated the income he received in
one job and failed to disclose his salary from another firm in two counts of
lying to Congress related to financial disclosure forms he filed as a candidate
in 2020.
The indictment alleges that Santos falsely certified that he
had a $750,000 salary and received between $1 million and $5 million in
dividends from his company, the Devolder Organization.
Prosecutors noted in a press release: “These assertions were
false. Santos had not received from the Devolder Organization the reported
amounts of salary or dividends.”
Prosecutors also allege that Santos lied about having a
checking account that held between $100,000 and $250,000 and a savings account
with deposits of between $1 and $5 million.
My 2 Cents: It's time for Santos resign, but he won’t.
Plus, now GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is playing the “wait and see” game, and not showing any leadership at all.
Santos is a disgrace to the GOP, to NY voters, and to Congress. This is a real blot on Congress’ reputation and the country.
Santos needs to go and then to be jailed for his crimes as well.
Thanks for stopping by.
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