Newly elected Republican Representative from Latest York George Santos attends the US House of Representatives voting for brand spanking new speaker on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 4, 2023.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images
A national watchdog group has filed a grievance with the Federal Election Commission against Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos for allegedly violating quite a few campaign finance laws during his successful run for Congress.
The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign watchdog organization, filed the grievance with the FEC on Monday. The group accuses the Santos campaign of allegedly violating three counts of campaign finance laws, including one tied to a $705,000 loan the lawmaker made to his campaign.
“It’s much more likely, as an alternative, that after failing to win his 2020 bid for Congress, Santos and other unknown individuals worked out a scheme to surreptitiously — and illegally — funnel money into his 2022 campaign,” the grievance reads. “The concealed true source behind $705,000 in contributions to Santos’s campaign may very well be an organization or foreign national — each of that are categorically barred from contributing to federal candidates.”
The FEC didn’t immediately return a request for comment. A Santos spokeswoman referred CNBC to the congressman’s attorneys. A Santos attorney didn’t return a request for comment.
Santos is under scrutiny by congressional lawmakers and federal authorities for lying and enhancing key elements of his resume during his 2022 campaign for Congress. Prosecutors from the Eastern District of Latest York are examining Santos’ funds, including potential irregularities involving financial disclosures and loans Santos made to his campaign while he was running for Congress, in line with NBC News.
Santos has admitted in an interview with City & State Latest York that he embellished his resume. While he’s apologized to anyone “upset by resume embellishments,” he vehemently denies committing any crimes.
The Campaign Legal Center claims that the loan he made to his campaign could have come from a straw donor. Santos’ latest financial disclosure says he made $750,000 from 2021 through 2022 from his company, the Devolder Organization. Santos told WABC radio host John Catsimatidis, who also donated to Santos, that the loan got here from “money I paid myself through the Devolder Organization.”
The watchdog accuses Santos of possibly concealing the true source of the cash that his campaign labeled as a loan.
The group also accuses Santos’ campaign of falsifying its reported disbursements and using campaign funds to pay for private expenses.
“George Santos has lied to voters about a number of things, but while lying about your background may not be illegal, deceiving voters about your campaign’s funding and spending is a serious violation of federal law,” Adav Noti, legal director on the Campaign Legal Center, said in an announcement. “That’s what we’re asking the Federal Election Commission to research. Because the agency liable for enforcing America’s campaign finance laws, the FEC owes it to the general public to search out out the reality about how George Santos raised and spent the cash he used to run for public office, and to make sure accountability for Santos’s illegal conduct.”Â
