The year in deceit, on LI and beyond
George Santos after casting his vote in Queens. Nov. 8, 2022. Credit: Chris Ware
This calendar year had less than two weeks left when George Devolder-Santos started to go through some things — and quickly became America’s most famous new congressman-elect.
On the cusp of his swearing-in next week, Santos stands exposed as something close to an impostor. There’s the fake resume, the mysterious marriage, the unsupported ancestry claims, the theft charge in Brazil, the unpaid rent bills, the nonexistent real estate holdings, the cock-and-bull stories about schools he didn’t attend and tales of heroic animal rescues, and his “Devolder Organization” of unknown activity.
A wide swath of Long Islanders would like to see him get out before he gets in. Logically, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, federal prosecutors, and state Attorney General Tish James are all setting their sights.
Where Santos’ unraveling ends, nobody knows. What’s clear is the 3rd Congressional District has suddenly replaced the Bahamas as backdrop for the most viral charges of fakery. It was in the islands that Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-CEO of the bankrupt crypto trading firm FTX, was arrested Dec. 12 on charges including conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud. Charged in the U.S. Southern District of New York, he is free on $250 million bond.
Given the massive scale of the crypto scandal, and the political sensation of Santos’ exposure, should 2022 be dubbed The Year of the Scammer? That’s difficult to say, without combing the annals of the region’s past deceivers from LI’s own “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort to Bernie Madoff. But white-collar fakery is the salient story of the winter season.
Suffolk still deals with the effects of a cyberattack reportedly initiated a year ago this month. Hackers entered the computer system through the Suffolk clerk’s office — and by September demanded $2.5 million in ransom for sensitive government data. Officials didn’t pay. An elusive Russia-linked ransomware group is believed responsible.
In 2022, other permutations of cybercrime, including one known as synthetic identity fraud, spiked worldwide.
This was also the year the House Jan. 6 committee proved how a president’s fake cries of fraud provided cover for his trying to defraud the people. Kari Lake, the Republican who lost the Arizona governor race, emptily claimed in the style of political mentor Donald Trump that she really won. Nobody but her sad fans bought it.
For certain players, grifting is a matter of style. Trump adherent and pillow salesman Mike Lindell still spews statements about ballot fraud that nobody understands. Mehmet Oz was defeated for Pennsylvania governor after years of pushing medical products and advice on TV that other doctors deemed dubious. Ex-football player Herschel Walker told a passel of easily-debunked lies before losing for Georgia senator.
Since the public doesn’t always come out lucky in these matters, here’s a New Year’s resolution: Admit if we don’t understand something. Take pains to critically choose whose sales pitch we believe.
The sanity we save in 2023 may be our own.
COLUMNIST DAN JANISON’S opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
