It is a known fact that politicians like to cheat. But Republican George Santos (34) shoots the bird. The young Midterms star — he’s the first openly gay man in his party not to win a seat in the House of Representatives as an incumbent, particularly in New York — has made up most of his resume. Blick exposes his biggest lies.
1 The openly gay
Initially, Santos campaigned to marry a man. As follows: “I am openly gay and have never had a problem with my sexual identity for the last ten years.” At the same time, he pledged to support the LGBTQ movement. However, Santos has concealed that he was married to a woman for seven years, according to research by the “New York Times”. In any case, this raises the question of whether sexual identity was as unproblematic for Santos as he claims.
2 The Animal Rights Activist
Santos also stated that from 2013 to 2018 he ran an animal welfare organization called Friends of Pet United, which he founded. The organization saved the lives of 2,400 dogs, among other things. But: according to the “New York Times”, this was not included in the official records.
3 The Jewish origin
A heartbreaking story: Santos continued that his Jewish grandparents fled Ukraine to Belgium and survived the Holocaust. To protect themselves from Nazi persecution, they reportedly converted to Catholicism and changed their names before fleeing Hitler to Brazil. According to Santos, he is “half a Jew” or a “Jewish Latino”. When “CNN” commissioned genealogists to check the politician’s family tree, they found no evidence of Jewish ancestry.
4 The commercial studies, the banking career and the family real estate company
According to his own statements, after studying economics at New York University, Santos worked for leading banks such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. An “experienced Wall Street financier and investor,” he runs a family-owned real estate business with $80 million in net worth.
However, at the request of the New York Times, the university, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs found no such Santos. Also, there was no trace of the property values. On the contrary: Santos apparently got into debt again and again, lived in an apartment with his mother and sister in 2014 and his landlords demanded eviction twice due to overdue rent payments. From 2011 to 2012, Santos did not work as a manager at a bank, but in the call center of a TV and internet provider.
5 The campaign funds
Lie number 4 also raises questions about Santos’ campaign funding: he loaned his campaign organization $700,000. At the same time, he reported an income of $750,000 and more than $1 million in dividends from his real estate company, according to the New York Post.
Santos was silent at first. On Monday, he then admitted that he had made up a lot in his biography. “I’m ashamed and sorry.” People just did stupid things. He explained his guilt with his mother’s cancer treatments. He said of his first marriage, “People change.”
However, it is still not clear how Santos’ financial situation could improve so suddenly, the New York Times reports. Yet he does not want to know anything about demands for his dismissal. However, criminal investigations have now been launched against him, as the “Spiegel” writes.