2023-05-11 05:16:17
His lies have not ceased to agitate the American political and media world since his election to Congress in November 2022. The elected to the American House of Representatives George Santos was arrested on Wednesday May 10 and charged with 13 financial frauds, for which he pleaded not guilty.
The Republican representative of New York State, indicted by a grand jury, appeared in federal court in Central Islip, east of the American megacity, and was released on $ 500,000 bail, announced a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor’s office in the Eastern District of New York. He was called for an upcoming hearing on June 30.
“I will make sure to clear my name”launched the elected 34-year-old to journalists when he left the court, assuring that the file included “errors”. George Santos has been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, embezzlement of public funds and making false statements to the House of Representatives, a statement from the prosecution said. The maximum incurred for such charges is twenty years in prison.
The indictment also charges him with defrauding campaign donors by transferring $50,000 in contributions to his personal bank account, money he allegedly used to pay off debts and buy luxury clothes. .
Deaf to calls for resignation
He is also accused of making financial misrepresentations to the House of Representatives about his assets and income. He is also charged with having received $24,000 in unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled before his election to Congress.
“He misappropriated political donations to line his own pockets, illegally solicited unemployment benefits that should have been paid to New Yorkers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives”explained the New York prosecutor, Breon Peace.
After his election in November, and following revelations from the New York Times, George Santos had admitted to grossly lying about whole swaths of his life to spruce up his CV, but he has since remained deaf to calls for his resignation.
Born of parents from Brazil, the one who presented himself as a symbol of ” American dream “ was accused of having lied or of having exaggerated the reality by presenting himself as “an American proud to be Jewish”or even as the grandson of Holocaust survivors who fled Nazi barbarism.
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Asked about the possible indictment of George Santos, Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday he would look “charges” before considering any kind of expulsion from Congress.
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