When an outside company was hired by a congressional candidate at the time George Santos In 2021, he submitted a secret internal report detailing aspects of the candidate’s checkered background, which some of his aides found too excruciating. They urged Santos to drop out, but they quit when Santos refused.
But even after New York voters elected Mr. Santos the following year and the press began to question his conduct, the original report remained unpublished to this day.
Parts of the report, made public for the first time here, cover long before Santos’ election, his marriage, his family’s alleged ties to the Holocaust, and “companies accused of fraud and fraud.” It shows that doubts about the relationship suspicion had surfaced. client. ”
Santos’ Vulnerability Report and Republican Leaders’ Reactions
The so-called vulnerability report was disclosed as Santos prepares to go to court to fight federal fraud charges. Such reporting is often a standard step in the early stages of a campaign as candidates prepare for potential attacks from their opponents. On December 2, 2021, the Santos campaign paid more than $16,600 to Capital Research Group, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based company that provides services such as vulnerability reporting, according to campaign finance records.
The report, obtained by CBS News, is based specifically on Santos’ own social media accounts, unearthing posts and photos that have since been deleted.
A spokeswoman for Santos declined to comment on the report, adding that Santos’ office does not comment on personal matters.
The report’s conclusions eventually circulated among House Republican campaign strategists, and the Congressional Leadership Fund, a major superPAC specializing in House Republican elections, endorsed Santos, according to three people familiar with the matter. was decided to be put on hold. Elise Stefanik, the top Republican in the House, campaigned with Santos long after the report was compiled.
A spokeswoman for Stefanik declined to comment when asked by CBS News about the report.
A spokesperson for Stefanik’s campaign previously told CNN in January, “Congresswoman Stefanik, like other New York Republicans, candidates, the NRCC, the NYGOP, and the entire House Republican leadership, is committed to the New York state target seat. I endorsed all Republican candidates in the United States,” he told CNN. The spokesman added that Stefanik was unaware of the allegations against Santos until after the election.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters in January that he “always had some questions” about Santos’ resume. His office did not respond to a question asked if he had seen the vulnerability report.
The 100-plus-page report, produced in the fall of 2021, raises similar questions about Santos’s campaign finance activities that federal prosecutors have raised in the criminal case against Santos, and the clear disclosures to Congress. It also contains contradictions.
Read part of the original report below.
During the election, Democrats put together their own investigative report on Santos, but left out many of the most damaging points. detail — many of which have since been independently verified by CBS News and other news outlets.
Santos was indicted In May, he was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of material misrepresentation before the House, and one count of theft of public money.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Santos “used political donations to enrich his own pocket, illegally applied for unemployment benefits intended for New Yorkers who lost their jobs during the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.” ‘ said.
he plea of innocence on all charges. And in a television interview, he disputed some of the allegations.
“I did not receive any funds from my campaign for personal purposes.” Santos told NewsNation. last month.
A ruthless report revealing its existence, The New York Times first reportedclaimed many of the fabrications that were eventually revealed in news reports after Santos was elected.
questionable resume
Santos claimed Santos is believed to have attended New York University and Baruch College, the City University of New York, but when the researchers contacted those institutions, they said, “There is no record of Santos having a degree from either university. ”.
Retrieved from CBS News
The report focused on Santos’ work as a senior executive With Harbor City Capitalsaid the Florida-based company had been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of operating as a pyramid scheme.
The article cites a since-deleted YouTube video of the company, in which Santos, then known as George Debolder, said, “Harbor City’s leadership has been very good and we are well led. ” he is reported to have said.
“We have a great board of directors and the appeal is the cohesiveness it brings to the company culture,” Santos reportedly said in the video.
Retrieved from CBS News
Santos said he was not aware of any wrongdoing at the company, which the SEC will shut down in 2021.
The report alleges that during Santos’ time at Harbor City Capital, the Alabama Securities Commission accused the company and its CEO of “advertising unrealistic gains on non-existent investments and engaging in other misconduct.” It points out that he submitted a cease and desist order.
Prior to joining Harbor City Capital, Mr. Santos worked for a Turkey-based online travel booking company that was labeled by customers as “a complete scam,” “the worst company,” and “a scumbag of scammers and liars.” ‘ and trolled in online reviews, the report claims. ”
Campaign Funding Discrepancies
Some of the most gruesome revelations in the report reflect the criminal charges he now faces. Federal prosecutors allege that Santos aimed to “mislead the House and the public about his financial situation” in disclosures he made to Congress during the 2020 election campaign and at the start of the 2022 presidential campaign. ing.
The report alleges similar discrepancies, contrasting his public claims of success as a financial advisor with a 2020 disclosure showing an earned income of $55,000.
“Mr Santos says his professional experience has contributed to working in the financial industry and increasing his wealth, but the personal financial disclosures filed with the House Clerk include personal investments and No assets were indicated,” the report said.
By 2022, prosecutors said Santos had “inflated his income and assets,” claiming he was worth up to $11 million.
Santos has also been charged with fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that starting in September 2022, Santos spent money donated by political supporters on personal expenses such as designer clothing, cars and credit card debt payments.
The vulnerability report doesn’t mention the alleged plot, but it does question how his first campaign was funded.
One of the top donors in the 2020 campaign was Michael Niamonitakis, who made the New York City Board of Public Advocacy’s “worst landlords” list that year.
Retrieved from CBS News
The report notes that Niamontakis received $165,000 in loans for the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program and made a total of $52,500 in political contributions during the year.
private life
The report also questioned the “real circumstances” of Santos’ marriage to ex-wife Huadra Vieira, saying, “At the time of her marriage to Santos, she was not a green card holder and was legally working in the United States. I may not have been able to,” he said.
Vieira did not respond to a request for comment. CBS News could not confirm her immigration status or current status during her marriage to Santos.
Retrieved from CBS News
Santos was married to Vieira from 2012 to 2019.
“During her marriage to Huadla Vieira, Santos apparently dated and lived with a man named Pedro Vilalba, an illegal immigrant from Brazil,” the report claims, who later claimed that Vilalba later committed suicide at one point. He added that he called him “Pedro Santos”.
Santos is openly gay.
Retrieved from CBS News
The report also warns of changes to accounts of Santos’ ancestry later discovered by the press. sheer falsehood.
Santos said on his 2020 campaign website that his grandparents were Belgian immigrants who “fled the European devastation of World War II.” In late 2020, he called his grandparents “Holocaust refugees.” In 2021, Santos said his grandparents “survived the Holocaust.”
Santos is not Jewish, and his grandparents were born in Brazil according to records.
Retrieved from CBS News
What is not included in the report
After Santos’ election, intense media scrutiny exposed a series of events in Santos’ past that made him the subject of criminal investigations and allegations of wrongdoing.
Santos confessed in 2010 to committing check fraud in Brazil, where his parents are from and where he lived briefly as a young man. He did not appear for a court appointment in 2011, and the case remained unresolved until March 24 of this year, when Brazilian authorities announced he would enter a guilty plea.
By the time Santos missed his 2011 court hearing, he had returned to New York, the city of his youth.he claimed his campaign historyHe claimed, without evidence, that he had helped rescue more than 2,500 animals under the direction of an organization called Friends of Pets United. The group was not registered as a nonprofit organization with the IRS, nor was it registered as a charity with New York state authorities.
Santos was indicted in Pennsylvania in November 2017 on a charge of theft by deception for allegedly paying a fraudulent check to a dog breeder. A lawyer who was a friend of Santos at the time told state police that Santos’ checkbook had been stolen and that someone impersonating Santos had signed the check.the case is dismissed In 2021.
Also in 2017, Santos was questioned by a Seattle detective. secret service agent in connection with the investigation of Suspected international ATM skimming ring. A FedEx box with the sender’s address listed as Santos’ home in Florida was allegedly found in the car of a Brazilian man who was caught taking a skimming device from an ATM, and investigators found Santos’ home. led to
Santos denied wrongdoing in each of the U.S. cases