He claimed to be the embodiment of the American dream. Diploma, religion, career: the candidate had lied about everything.
by Corine Lesnes (San Francisco, correspondent)
In the campaign, candidates are often tempted to embellish their biography. In this register, the Republican George Santos, 34, elected on November 8 in the third district of New York at the end of the US mid-term elections, achieved a performance worthy of the greatest illuminators. Diplomas, career, family: everything was false.
son of Brazilian immigrants, born in Queens, George Santos described himself as “the embodiment of the American dream”. Monday, December 26, he had to admit many “embellishment sins” on his CV. He who had presented himself as a Jew, grandson of Ukrainian refugees who fled Nazism, homosexual, a graduate of the university, brilliant financial, admitted that he was “clearly Catholic”, even if he felt “a little Jew “on the maternal side. And no, he hadn’t worked either at Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, but for a business in relation to business with the two firms. “I chose my words badly,” he regretted in a Interview with the New York Post . “I am not a criminal. Everyone inflates their CV.”
George Santos does not have thirteen properties: he has none. He still lives with his sister. The Baruch College of New York which he claimed did not find any traces of his schooling. On the other hand, the New York Times, which has devoted a detailed investigation , found troubles with Brazilian justice for a story of fraudulent checks. At a time when George Santos said they made a fortune to Wall Street in 2012, he actually worked in a call center for the DISH company. For five years, he was married to a woman, until the announcement of his first candidacy in 2020. An element certainly personal but which he had never mentioned. “I am completely homosexual, he insisted with the New York Post. People change. I am one of those who change.”
calls for resignation
George Santos had succeeded in delighting a seat in this historically democratic district – where the outgoing did not stand out -, which had fueled the story of a shift in minorities in the republican camp. He said he had put his fortune at the service of good causes, including the defense of animals – his association had saved more than 2,500 cats and dogs. This one, Friends for Pet, exists well, noted the New York Times, but it was not registered in the register of NGOs benefiting from tax deductions, and it proceeded to a fundraising of which the interested parties did not not benefited.
You have 23.48% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.