“I am not a criminal,” Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y., declared in a recent interview with the New York Post.
Authorities in Brazil would disagree. They intend to reopen a criminal case into Santos on charges of alleged check fraud back in 2008.
The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office abandoned its case against Santos after losing track of his whereabouts. He was wanted on charges of elder fraud and check forgery in Brazil.
The New York Times explains:
A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office said that with Mr. Santos’s whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him.
The criminal case in Brazil was first disclosed in a New York Times investigation that uncovered broad discrepancies in his résumé and questions about his financial dealings.
Just a month before his 20th birthday, Mr. Santos entered a small clothing store in the Brazilian city of Niterói outside Rio de Janeiro. He spent nearly $700 using a stolen checkbook and a false name, court records show.
In 2009 Santos told the shop owner, “I know I screwed up, but I want to pay,” in a message on a popular Brazilian social networking site. “It was always my intention to pay, but I messed up,” he added. One year later, he admitted to stealing the checkbook of a man his mother worked for to law enforcement.
A Brazilian court sought Santos’ formal response to the charges in September 2011. He had already immigrated to the United States with his mother.
Should Santos not present a defense, Brazilian authorities will try him in absentia. If found guilty, a Brazilian court could sentence him to up to five years in prison.
Criminal violations do not automatically disqualify a Member of Congress, the Times notes:
A criminal conviction, even for a felony, is not on its own an act that would disqualify a congressional member from holding office. The last time a member of Congress was removed from office for breaking the law was in 2002, when James A. Traficant Jr. was removed from the House after his conviction on felony racketeering and corruption charges.
Santos’ swearing-in today already comes under a cloud of suspicion. Federal and local prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible violations of campaign finance laws involving tens of thousands of dollars.
Of course they are- the shiny new Communist President perhaps acting at the behest of Biden, to curry favor? Get your checkbook out, dude, deep pockets in front of you. Hunter is waiting for your call…
Team Biden isn’t concerned with liars Schiff et al, but chipping away at that slim R majority in the House is #1 on his new year wish list. Gotta stop that oversight!!!
If they stop this guy for lying then they need to take out Pocahontas, Lying Xi Obiden, Stolen Valor Blumenthal, etc etc etc …
PS, I forgot about Congressman Shifty Schiff for Brains.
Or brother humper and liar ilhan omar….
Lula is globalist puppet swine. He even looks like a pig. An election-stealing pig. This is political. He is working with our own globalist puppet election-stealing pedo-pig.
I wonder why the writer did not mention that James A. Traficant Jr. was a democrat? That said, about 99.9 of all of them are crooks and liars (democrat’s and republicans) .