一个联邦监察机构周一敦促联邦选举委员会调查纽约州众议员乔治·桑托斯，声称他违反了联邦竞选财务法通过隐瞒竞选捐款的真实来源、虚报竞选开支以及非法将竞选资金用于个人开支
华盛顿特区的非营利组织竞选法律中心(Campaign Legal Center)表示，桑托斯“在2022年的大选中，通过捏造他生活的几乎每个方面，积极欺骗公众”，并违反了联邦法律。
“作为他最近欺诈活动的一部分，桑托斯似乎还违反了联邦竞选财务法，故意隐瞒他竞选资金的真实来源，谎报他的竞选活动如何花钱，并用竞选资金非法支付个人费用。诉状称:“特别是鉴于桑托斯对自己的生活和任职资格撒了一大堆谎，委员会应该彻底调查他的竞选活动如何筹集和花费资金的谎言。”。
桑托斯，34岁，承认捏造在他赢得代表纽约州第三国会选区的中期选举后，他的大部分传记——包括谎称自己曾就读于著名的霍瑞斯·曼学校、毕业于巴鲁克学院以及为高盛和花旗集团工作。四个不同的执法部门正在调查他的公开披露:纽约总检察长、皇后区检察官、拿骚区检察官和纽约东区美国检察官办公室。
诉状称，桑托斯声称他借给他的竞选团队70.5万美元是不可信的，并质疑“他怎么可能用自己的资金做到这一点”，因为他的财务披露表显示2020年只有5.5万美元的收入。
“鉴于他之前的许多谎言，他声称在2021年和2022年从他于2021年5月创办的一家所谓的咨询公司Devolder Organization LLC赚了数百万美元，这是模糊的，未经证实的，不可信的，”诉状说。
起诉书指控桑托斯“故意充当稻草捐助者”，从“未知人士”那里为他的竞选活动输送非法捐款，这些人以桑托斯业务收入的名义提供资金。
“桑托斯收入和资产急剧增加的数量和时间，缺乏对他如何获得收入的明确解释，他有据可查的不诚实倾向，以及他随后用他突然获得的70.5万美元资助他随后的国会竞选的事实，强烈表明桑托斯财务状况的快速转变不仅仅是巧合，而是不明人士直接和非法给他钱竞选联邦办公室的直接结果，”起诉书说。
桑托斯或其代表没有立即发表评论。
桑托斯拒绝辞去他的职务，并表示他不是一个“骗子”或“骗子”福克斯新闻频道访谈录本月初。
“我相信，为了克服这一点，向前迈进...我必须面对我的错误，我正在面对它们，”桑托斯在采访中说。
Watchdog complaint alleges Rep. George Santos committed campaign finance violations
A federal watchdog on Monday urged the Federal Election Commission to investigate Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., alleging he violated federal campaign finance laws by concealing the true sources of campaign donations, misrepresenting campaign spending and illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses
Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, said Santos "actively deceived the public throughout the 2022 election by fabricating virtually every aspect of his life" and compounded those fabrications with violations of federal law.
"As part of his latest campaign of duplicity, Santos also appears to have violated federal campaign finance laws by knowingly and willfully concealing the true sources of his campaign's funding, misrepresenting how his campaign spent its money, and illegally paying for personal expenses with campaign funds. 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 complaint said.
Santos, 34, admitted to fabricating much of his biography -- including lying about attending the prestigious Horace Mann School, graduating from Baruch College and working for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup -- after he won the midterm election to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District. Four different law enforcement offices are looking into his public disclosures: the New York attorney general, Queens district attorney, Nassau district attorney and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
The complaint said it was implausible for Santos to claim he loaned his campaign $705,000, questioning "how he could have done so with his own funds" since his financial disclosure forms reported only $55,000 of income in 2020.
"His claims of having earned millions of dollars in 2021 and 2022 from a supposed consulting business that he started in May 2021, Devolder Organization LLC, are vague, uncorroborated and non-credible in light of his many previous lies," the complaint said.
The complaint accused Santos "knowingly and willfully acted as a straw donor" funneling illegal contributions to his campaign from "unknown persons" who provided money disguised as income from Santos' business.
"The volume and timing of Santos's dramatic increase in income and assets, the lack of a clear explanation of how he generated that income, his well-documented penchant for dishonesty, and the fact that he then used $705,000 from his sudden windfall to fund his subsequent congressional campaign strongly suggests that the rapid shift in Santos's finances was not a mere coincidence, but a direct result of unknown persons directly, and illegally, giving him money to run for federal office," the complaint said.
There was no immediate comment from Santos or his representatives.
Santos has refused to resign from his position and said he is not a "fraud" or a "fake" in an interview with Fox News earlier this month.
"I believe that in order to move past this and move forward ... I have to face my mistakes and I'm facing them," Santos said in the interview.
