The House Ethics Committee has published a report on George Santos, and there will be real-time updates available.

The confusing and constantly evolving life story of Mr. Santos presents a challenge in distinguishing between reality and fiction during his initial involvement in politics.

The following year, it was reported that he made his initial bid for Congress; however, he was unable to obtain sufficient signatures to be included on the Queens County Republican Committee.

In 2020, he announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, challenging the Democratic incumbent, Thomas Suozzi.

No other candidates put their names forward. When pressed by reporters why he lived out of the district, he claimed to reside at an address that turned out to be his treasurer’s.

Despite losing the general election by approximately 46,000 votes, he surpassed expectations for a Republican candidate in a heavily Democratic district. He did not concede defeat.

On January 6, during the Capitol riots in Washington DC, Mr. Santos gave a speech at the Stop the Steal rally at the ellipse. In his speech, he alleged that his election had been fraudulently taken from him. According to a roommate, Mr. Santos had worn a stolen Burberry scarf worth $520 to the rally.

In 2020, during his campaign for Congress, he started working at a Florida investment company called Harbor City Capital. However, the company was eventually sued by the Security and Exchange Commission for operating a fraudulent investment scheme worth $17 million.

He has stated publicly that he was not involved in the reported fraud.

During his time in Brazil, Mr Santos allegedly had a side career as a drag performer under the name Kitara Ravache during his youth.

In January, Eula Rochard, a drag performer from Brazil, shared images on social media of herself with an individual wearing a red dress, bold red lipstick, and dangling chandelier earrings. Rochard identified this person as Mr. Santos.

A report by Politico later discovered that a Wikipedia user under the name Anthony Devolder asserted to have taken part in drag performances as a teenager in Brazil.

Mr. Santos vehemently denied the allegations on social media, particularly at a time when his political party was demonizing and attempting to prohibit drag queen performances in certain states.

He denied the accusations that he had “performed” as a drag queen, stating that they were completely untrue. However, the following day, Mr Santos seemed to confess to participating in drag. He stated, “I was young and I had a good time at a festival. You can sue me for living my life.”

In 2011, he returned to New York and began working as a customer service representative at a call center for Dish Network, a company that provides satellite TV services. The job was located in Queens and paid approximately $15 per hour.

Mr. Santos made multiple false statements in a series of interviews. He claimed to have earned a degree from NYU’s business school, played as a top volleyball player at Baruch College, attended the prestigious private school Horace Mann in New York, but was unable to graduate due to financial issues, and worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. However, these claims have either been proven false or lack evidence.

In February, the organization Reclaim the Records acquired legal documents revealing that he wed a Brazilian woman in 2012. His previous spouse, who remains unnamed, initiated divorce proceedings in 2019.

In November 2020, he disclosed to the Brazilian magazine Piaui that he is married to a man from Brazil named Matheus Gerard.

Due to Mr. Santos’ tendency to tell falsehoods, it is wise to approach any information about his personal life, including his true name, marital status, and exact birthplace, with caution.

Per his congressional website, Mr. Santos was born in Jackson Heights, Queens in July 1988 and considers himself a first generation American. His parents, Fátima Devolder and Gercino Antônio dos Santos Jr., were both immigrants from Brazil. Fátima worked as a housekeeper and Gercino was a house painter. Mr. Santos has a younger sister, Tiffany Lee Devolder Santos.

Previous colleagues of Mr Santos, who were employed with him at Dish Network in College Point during 2011 and 2012, disclosed to Patch that he would often mention being born in Brazil. During this time, he went by the names Anthony Devolder or George Devolder.

The location of his actual birth is important because the Constitution mandates that members of Congress must be American citizens for a minimum of seven years prior to their election. In various interviews, Mr. Santos has stated that he holds citizenship in both Brazil and the United States.

According to Tiffany Bogosian, Mr. Santos had a tendency to exaggerate details about his life even when he was young. She attributed this behavior to his impoverished upbringing and mentioned that he was still in the process of learning English while in junior high, where he also faced bullying.

Between 2008 and 2011, Mr Santos resided in Brazil with his mother.

In 2008, Brazilian authorities accused Mr. Santos of using a stolen checkbook and a false identity at a clothing store near Rio de Janeiro. According to records from the court, the New York Times revealed that in 2010, Mr. Santos admitted to the police that he and his mother had taken a checkbook from a former employer of hers and used it to buy clothing and shoes worth $1,300.

According to CNN, Mr. Santos acknowledged his wrongdoing in March and entered into a non-prosecution agreement where he agreed to reimburse the victim.

During his campaign, Mr. Santos consistently stated that he has Jewish heritage and that his grandparents were European Jews who escaped from Hitler.

Afterwards, Jewish cultural organizations and online investigators discovered evidence indicating that his grandparents were actually born in Brazil.

Mr. Santos clarified to the New York Post that he had described himself as “Jew-ish” during a previous conversation.

Amid a multitude of controversies and untruths, George Santos declared on November 16th that he would not pursue another term in office.

After a critical report by the House Ethics Committee, the troubled New York Republican made a decision due to accusations of “unspecified and illegal behavior.”

Mr. Santos was also accused and charged. He was taken into custody in May and faced 13 federal charges which included wire fraud, money laundering, and embezzlement of public funds. In October, a new indictment was issued, adding 10 more federal charges against Mr. Santos.

Aside from numerous legal issues, Mr. Santos has also faced accusations of fabricating his personal background. He has asserted that he was a renowned volleyball player at Baruch College, held a position at Goldman Sachs, has family members who escaped the Holocaust, and lost his mother during the 9/11 attacks. However, there is no evidence to support any of these claims.

Mr. Santos has been plagued by what is arguably one of the most peculiar scandals in recent American political history. Calls for his expulsion and resignation have been mounting since before he even took office as the representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

The time that Congressman George Santos has spent in office has been far from uneventful. Both his ascent to authority and his decline from favor have been riddled with scandal.

After serving less than two years in Congress, he seems to have accumulated a vast number of falsehoods and controversies. As a result, he has decided not to run for re-election in 2024 following the publication of a critical report by the House Ethics Committee.

The committee reported significant proof that Mr Santos violated federal laws by engaging in undisclosed and illegal behavior. This included spending campaign funds on items from Hermes, Sephora, and OnlyFans.

Mr. Santos is facing accusations of committing campaign fraud by deceiving the Federal Election Commission. This matter is currently being addressed in a public New York court, where two former members of his campaign team have confessed to financial crimes related to his campaign. One posed as a staff member for Kevin McCarthy, while the other, who served as treasurer, allegedly submitted falsified reports to the FEC regarding non-existent loans and questionable expenditures by the congressman. In court documents, the treasurer has claimed that Mr. Santos was aware of her actions, but he has denied this.

The investigation conducted by the House reveals that Mr. Santos’ campaign team referred to their finances as a “black box” which was only managed and monitored by Mr. Santos and the treasurer, Nancy Marks. Despite his claims, the subcommittee report stated that Mr. Santos was heavily involved in managing the financial aspects of his campaign and criticized him for disregarding warnings from his own team about Ms. Marks and financial discrepancies in the campaign’s spending records.

The report discovered that Representative Santos did not know about all the mistakes in his campaign records regarding other expenses and income. However, he had concerns about Ms. Marks that were repeatedly brought to his attention by several members of his team, but he did not take any significant steps to address them.

This is potentially the most extensive range of offenses that Mr. Santos is accused of committing – though the difference is minimal.

According to the investigative subcommittee, the congressman had a history of financial troubles, including frequent debt, a low credit score, and dependence on multiple high-interest credit cards to support his lavish lifestyle. The Ethics Committee found evidence that he used funds from his campaign to partially pay off these credit card debts and also made direct transfers from campaign accounts to his personal bank account.

He allegedly utilized these finances- which were transferred to his personal accounts through various methods- to buy luxury items from brands like Hermes, subscribe to OnlyFans, and dine at high-end restaurants.