Santos admitted writing fraudulent checks he stole in Brazil, CNN reports
Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y. stands in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: AP/Andrew Harnik
Incoming Rep. George Santos admitted to investigators more than a decade ago that he stole a man’s checkbook and used it to buy clothes and shoes in a Brazil shop, according to a new report Wednesday.
Santos in 2010 told police in Brazil that he took the checks from his mother’s purse in 2008 and used “some sheets” to make $1,313.63 worth of purchases, CNN reported, citing 150 pages of documents it obtained in connection with the case.
The checkbook belonged to Camara da Costa Alemao, who had been in the care of Santos’ mother Fatima Devolder, a healthcare worker, and died in 2009.
Santos told police his mother asked him “with despair” to return the checkbook, but he had ripped up the remaining checks and threw them down a manhole, according to the report.
“He [Santos] acknowledged having been responsible for forging the signatures on the checks, also confirming that he had destroyed the remaining checks,” according to a documents cited by CNN.
Santos signed a confession on Nov. 18, 2010, CNN reported. That admission contrasts with a response Santos gave to the New York Post in a Dec. 26 interview denying that the criminal charge had been filed against him.
“I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world,” Santos told the Post. “Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”
Santos, a Republican, emerging from his congressional office on Wednesday afternoon, did not respond to questions about his admission in the court documents. He quickly entered a nearby elevator and looked away from reporters asking questions. His swearing-in, originally scheduled for Tuesday along with other representatives, had been delayed after members failed to elect a House speaker as late as Wednesday evening.
Santos used an ID bearing the checkbook owner’s name and picture of himself to make the purchases in the city of Niteroi, outside of Rio de Janeiro. The store clerk had told police he had to pay the amount of the fraudulent purchases and later located Santos on social media to demand repayment, the CNN report said.
Brazilian authorities had not been able to prosecute Santos for the crime because they previously couldn’t find him. A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office told CNN that they will make a formal request to the U.S. Justice Department to notify Santos of the criminal charges filed in 2011.
Santos has been facing increasing financial scrutiny and calls to resign following a bombshell New York Times report revealing that he fabricated most of his resume and lied about owning 13 properties. Federal and local prosecutors have opened investigations into whether Santos committed crimes involving his finances and his campaign funds or made false statements.
Democrats said Wednesday’s report was the latest example of why he is unfit to serve.
“George Santos is a liar, fraud, and cheat who’s proven he can’t even issue an apology without spewing more lies. New Yorkers can’t trust a single thing he says,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Nebeyett Betre said in a statement. “He’s an embarrassment to Long Island and is completely undeserving of being a member of Congress.”
With Laura Figueroa Hernandez
Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.
