Rep. George Santos, R-NY, made a significant change to his 2022 campaign filings on Tuesday, stating that a $500,000 loan he made to the campaign was not made with his personal funds.
The initial filing in September included a checkbox indicating that the large loan came from the candidate’s “personal funds.” That box is unchecked in the new filing, which was first reported by the Daily Beast.
However, the amended filing contains no new information about the source of the funds, stating only that the loan came from the candidate but was not his personal funds.
Around $150,000 in loans are still listed as coming from his personal funds. A separate filing shows that Santos made a new $125,000 loan in October, but it was not from his personal funds.
Santos told WABC radio last month that the loans were money “I paid myself” through his company, the Devolder Organization.
Santos stated on a campaign finance form that he earned $55,000 per year when he first ran for Congress in 2020. According to campaign filings from last year, he made millions of dollars in 2021. Last month, he told the news site Semafor that he made his money legally through his company’s “capital introduction” business.
Santos’ congressional office, according to a spokesperson, “does not comment on campaign or personal matters.”
According to law enforcement sources, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn opened an investigation into Santos last month and were looking into his finances, including potential irregularities involving financial disclosures and loans he made to his campaign.
The Nassau County district attorney’s office is also investigating him, and the state attorney general’s office has stated that it is “looking into a number of issues” concerning Santos.
Santos has come under fire following a shocking revelation. According to a New York Times investigation published last month, much of his résumé appeared to be fabricated, including claims that he owned numerous properties, worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and attended and graduated from Baruch College.
Santos has admitted to some of the fabrications while also attempting to minimise them. “My sins here are embellishing my résumé,” he told the New York Post last month. I apologise.”
While some Republicans have called for him to resign, the GOP Steering Committee, led by California Speaker Kevin McCarthy, voted this month to give him two committee seats: one on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and one on the Small Business Committee.
