WASHINGTON (1010 WINS) — New York Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres filed a complaint Tuesday with the House Ethics Committee seeking an investigation into Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos.
According to the Democrats' letter to the committee, Santos failed to "file timely, accurate, and complete financial disclosure reports as required by law."
"Over the past several weeks, extensive public reporting — as well as Santos's own admissions — have shown that Mr. Santos misled voters in his District about his ethnicity, his religion, his education, and his employment and professional history, among other things," the lawmakers added.
"Mr. Santos has failed to uphold the integrity expected of members of the House of Representatives," they continued. "We therefore respectfully request that you investigate this matter to determine the extent of these violations and take appropriate action as soon as possible."
Santos is unlikely to face expulsion from Congress if the committee finds he violated the internal rules of the House. Lawmakers are only likely to dole out such a severe punishment in the case of a federal crime, according to the New York Times.
It's only the latest complaint to be filed against the 34-year-old lawmaker this week. On Monday, a watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging he violated multiple campaign finance laws.
In light of Santos "mountain of lies about his life and qualifications for office," the Campaign Legal Center said in its complaint to the FEC to "thoroughly investigate" what appears to be "equally brazen lies about how his campaign raised and spent money" in the complaint against.
The nonpartisan watchdog alleges that Santos and his 2022 campaign committee for Congress, Devolder-Santos for Congress, engaged in a straw donor scheme to "knowingly and willfully" conceal "the true sources of the $705,000 that Santos claimed to have loaned to his campaign, as well as many other reporting violations."
The complaint also accused the representative, who was formally sworn into office early Saturday, of using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including rent on a house that Santos lived in during the campaign.
The Campaign Legal Center is also investigating the $705,000 that Santos claimed to have loaned to his campaign, stating in its complaint that "it is far from clear how he could have done so with his own funds, because financial disclosure reports indicate that Santos had only $55,000 to his name 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 ("Devolder LLC"), are vague, uncorroborated, and non-credible in light of his many previous lies," the complaint said, adding that "the overall circumstances instead indicate that unknown individuals or corporations may have illegally funneled money to Santos’s campaign through the newly formed Devolder."
Santos' campaign also "appears to have systematically misrepresented its statement of disbursements," the group added. The "astonishing" 40 payments between $199 and $200, including 37 payments for exactly $199.99, suggest that "the sheer number of these just-under-$200 disbursements is implausible, and some payments appear to be impossible given the nature of the item or service covered."
"There is reason to believe Santos's campaign deliberately falsified its disbursement reporting, among numerous other reporting violations," the complaint continued.
The group added that Santos' campaign also appears to have illegally used campaign funds for personal expenses, including rent on an apartment in Huntington, New York.
Santos' congressional office told NY1 that it does not comment on campaign activity. A voicemail left for the campaign went unanswered, while a message sent to the campaign's press email account was returned as undeliverable.
The FEC told the outlet it also does not comment on pending enforcement matters.
Questions intensified after The Times examined the narrative he presented to voters during his successful campaign for a congressional district that straddles the north shore suburbs of Long Island and a sliver of Queens.
Ahead of his swearing-in, Santos, who faces a spiral of investigations from federal and local prosecutors into his campaign spending and lies about his family history, resume and education, declined to respond to questions from reporters inside and outside the Capitol, including one question about whether he planned to resign.
Brazilian prosecutors have also announced their intention to reopen a 15-year-old check fraud case against Santos. The case had previously been put on hold because police had been unable to find him.
Initially, the victory by Santos, an openly gay Republican who flipped a Long Island House seat held by Democrats for a decade, was seen as one of his party’s bright spots in an otherwise underwhelming midterm election. But as reports began to emerge that he had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree, Santos turned into a distraction and embarrassment to the party as it prepared to take control of the House.
He has apologized for his fabrications but downplayed them as "sins" over embellishing his resume, telling The New York Post that "we do stupid things in life."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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