From a debunked story about his mother's death to fabrications about how he made his wealth, George Santos is truly a modern-day Mr. Ripley. But the deeper you dig into the congressman's backstory, the more lies you uncover.
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00:00From a debunked story about his mother's death to fabrications about how he made his wealth,
00:06George Santos is truly a modern-day Mr. Ripley.
00:10But the deeper you dig into the congressman's backstory, the more lies you uncover.
00:16One of the first major fibs George Santos was called out on was his ever-changing heritage.
00:22An older version of his campaign website outright claimed he had Jewish lineage, reading,
00:28His mother was born in Brazil to Belgian immigrants that fled the devastation of World War II
00:34Europe.
00:35His actions on the campaign trail also seemed to indicate that he was in touch with that
00:39aspect of his identity, as Santos attended Hanukkah parties and went to meetings of the
00:44Republican-Jewish coalition.
00:46However, as The New York Times first revealed, he actually isn't Jewish at all.
00:52Forward, an independent Jewish newspaper, confirmed The New York Times' findings.
00:57The outlet scoured genealogy websites and immigration records and found nothing to
01:01corroborate Santos' story.
01:04Instead, they discovered that both of Santos' maternal grandparents, as well as his mother,
01:09had been born in Brazil.
01:10Additionally, they found that there was no mention of Jewish customs or major religious
01:15holidays on her social media accounts.
01:17But there were plenty of references to Catholic religious traditions.
01:21In an interview with The New York Post, Santos attempted to backtrack on his earlier claims,
01:27saying,
01:28"...I never claimed to be Jewish.
01:30I am Catholic.
01:31Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was Jew-ish."
01:36Despite the obvious discrepancy between what he told the Post and what was initially printed
01:41on his website, there's still no viable evidence that anyone on either side of Santos' family
01:47has Jewish heritage or has been a practicing Jew.
01:51The Jewish heritage question wasn't the only drama George Santos dragged his unexpecting
01:55mother into.
01:56In a tweet he wrote on July 12, 2021, Santos claimed that his mother died as a result of
02:02the Twin Towers terrorist attacks, writing,
02:05"...9-11 claimed my mother's life."
02:08Over the years, the congressman told the story of his mother's life over and over, claiming
02:13she worked her way up to becoming an executive at a major financial institution, a role that
02:18feasibly could have placed her in an office in the Twin Towers.
02:22The only thing about the story that ever changed was the ending.
02:26Occasionally, Santos would claim his mother lost her life that day.
02:31Other times, he'd say she made it out of the Towers alive, but eventually died of complications
02:36later on.
02:37"...My mom was a 9-11 survivor."
02:40Unfortunately for Santos, victims advocacy organizations have told outlets like Rolling
02:44Stone that there are no employment records that would place his mother near the Towers
02:49on that fateful day.
02:50Additionally, she never entered a victim's compensation claim or joined any of the numerous
02:56lawsuits surrounding the attacks.
02:58A researcher for The Seattle Times also found immigration documents in which Santos' mother
03:03said she had been out of the United States and living in Brazil since June 1999.
03:09According to that outlet, she never even worked in finance and wouldn't have even been in
03:13a position to be in New York's financial district at all that day.
03:17Instead, she was employed as a house cleaner and home aide in the city's outer boroughs.
03:24If George Santos' resume is to be believed, he held a number of significant positions
03:29at major financial firms.
03:31According to the documents, Santos first worked at Citigroup, before moving to MetGlobal Inc.,
03:36then Goldman Sachs, and finally LinkBridge Investors.
03:41In the media, he always painted himself as a high-achieving and boundary-pushing employee,
03:46noting on his website that he was one of the youngest vice presidents in the industry.
03:50In reality, Santos wasn't a high-achieving, boundary-pushing employee.
03:55In fact, he wasn't even employed at many of the firms he listed.
03:59In December 2022, the politician admitted to the New York Post that he had never worked
04:04directly for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, but had only tangentially been involved with them
04:09through his work at LinkBridge.
04:12According to the New York Times report, while working at LinkBridge, one of Santos' primary
04:17duties was arranging conferences, not managing investments.
04:21So how was Santos making all his money pre-LinkBridge?
04:25That remains up for debate, but Patch was able to confirm he worked at a Dish network
04:30location in Queens as a bilingual customer service representative for at least a couple
04:35of years around 2011 and 2012.
04:39While he was supposedly busy working for these major financial institutions, George Santos
04:44claimed he was also adding to his wealth via a side hustle — renting and maintaining
04:49family-owned properties as a New York City landlord.
04:53In a tweet from February 8, 2021, the congressman claimed his family owned 13 properties around
04:59the city, and expressed frustration at not being able to collect rent on many of them
05:04thanks to COVID-related policies.
05:06Interestingly, Business Insider was unable to find any mention of NYC properties in the
05:12disclosure forms for Santos' campaign.
05:14"...I made a mistake.
05:16And I think humans are flawed, and we all make mistakes."
05:19According to George Santos, he wasn't just raking in the cash as a Wall Street tycoon
05:23and prolific landlord.
05:25He was also giving it away left and right.
05:28At multiple points in his campaign, the politician made a point of highlighting his charitable
05:33work.
05:34The About Me section of his website lists four different ways in which he either currently
05:38was or previously had been involved in local charitable operations and national non-profits.
05:45But there was one endeavor he always spoke about more than all the rest — Friends of
05:50Pets United.
05:52On his website, Santos said that the 501c had rescued 2,400 dogs, 280 cats, and had
05:59trapped, neutered, and released an additional 3,000 cats.
06:03However, The New York Times found no record with the IRS of a registered charity under
06:08that name.
06:09As if that wasn't enough, it seems that trivial fact didn't stop Santos from telling folks
06:14in his community the non-profit existed and then proceeding to embezzle from it.
06:20In early 2023, a veteran came forward and told Patch that Santos had promised to help
06:25save his dying service dog, Sapphire.
06:28The men started a GoFundMe to pay for a necessary surgery for the animal.
06:33But then Santos, the veteran claimed, abruptly shuttered the campaign as soon as it hit $3,000
06:39and disappeared with the money.
06:41As a result, Sapphire was unable to get the life-saving medical treatment and died in
06:462016.
06:48For his part, Santos told The Hill, the man's claims were shocking and insane.
06:54Back to the money.
06:55The North Shore Leader, the first outlet to bring up questions about George Santos' stories,
07:01noted that he seemingly went from pauper to prince in the span of two years.
07:05According to the outlet, when he filed personal financial disclosures in 2020, they said he
07:11had no assets over $5,000.
07:14His income that year was only $50,000, a respectable number to be sure, but not large enough to
07:20increase his fortune by millions of dollars by 2022.
07:24In his most recent personal financial disclosures, Santos said he was worth $11 million.
07:31Santos himself has pointed to the Devolder organization as the primary source of his
07:35fortune.
07:36The news website Semaphore described the Devolder organization like this,
07:40"[Devolder is in the capital introduction business, including deal-building and specialty
07:45consulting for high-net-worth individuals."
07:48Part of the work also seems to include reselling luxury goods, like yachts and private planes,
07:55Suspiciously, however, the business has been opened and shuttered a number of times.
08:01Furthermore, Santos refuses to make public any documents related to his company, and
08:05he has never disclosed clients whose business has exceeded $5,000, which is against New
08:10York state law.
08:12Many people think it's more likely that some of Santos' wealth — if he actually has any
08:16— came from Harbor City Capital.
08:19Santos had acted as the Florida firm's New York regional director for years before the
08:23business was accused of being a massive Ponzi scheme.
08:26Today I am a proud regional director of a $1.5 billion fund."
08:32Santos has denied any knowledge of the company's wrongdoings, but many remain suspicious given
08:37his sudden financial solvency.
08:40There aren't just questions about George Santos' personal wealth, but about his campaign finances
08:46as well.
08:47For starters, his 2022 campaign finance form originally included a $600,000 personal loan.
08:54Which implies it was money taken from his personal accounts, and not money given to
08:58him by donors.
09:00However, Santos very recently admitted to the Daily Beast that the cash wasn't actually
09:05a personal loan, but failed to shed any light on the true source.
09:10Which means it's possible that he has violated campaign finance laws and could wind up facing
09:15charges.
09:16Additionally, a significant portion of the money he raised was obtained through a mysterious,
09:22unregistered fund called Redstone Strategies.
09:25Because the fund isn't registered, there's no record of its donors, contributions, or
09:30spending.
09:31As the New York Times writes, this means there's no way to know if every cent of the money
09:36went towards campaign finances as it should have.
09:40Finally, a glimpse at his Federal Election Commission's documents reveals that Santos
09:45had dozens of expenditures that came in at $199.99.
09:51Just a single penny below the figure at which the FEC requires candidates to keep receipts.
09:57These charges rang up at restaurants, drugstores, and ride-sharing services, and could imply
10:03that Santos was irresponsibly spending money and attempting to hide it from officials.
10:09If George Santos' campaign money turns out to have been ill-gotten and ill-spent, it
10:14wouldn't be the first time his actions have contrasted with his so-called morality.
10:19From the beginning, Santos has always been open about his identity as a gay man.
10:23He told USA Today,
10:25"...I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade,
10:31and I can tell you and assure you I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ folks."
10:36Meanwhile, he's been incredibly vocal about his support for Ron DeSantis' Don't Say Gay
10:42bill, even posting a minute-long video touting the so-called benefits of the bill on his
10:47Facebook page.
10:48Additionally, new reports from outlets like CNN and Reuters have revealed that Santos
10:53performed as a drag queen in Brazil on multiple occasions.
10:57Pictures and video footage obtained by the news sites show the Republican dressed in
11:02a red dress and fully done-up, and fellow performers recalled working alongside him
11:07when he went by the name Katara.
11:10The issue many Americans have with Santos' stint as a drag queen isn't that he's been
11:15a part of these scenes, but that he's participated in these circles while attempting to limit
11:20fellow citizens' freedoms to do the same.
11:23There's just something so shady about claiming to support a group of people and even openly
11:27participating in their culture while also working to ensure they remain second-class
11:32citizens with fewer rights than their counterparts.
11:36If you haven't picked up on it yet, George Santos is a bit of a trauma tourist.
11:41He loves inserting himself in devastating situations if it can get him a bit more sympathy
11:46or notoriety.
11:48Aside from claiming his mother was present for the 9-11 attacks, Santos has also claimed
11:52involvement in two other recent American tragedies.
11:56"...I understand everybody wants to nitpick at me.
11:59I'm gonna reassure this once and for all.
12:02I'm not a facade, I'm not a persona."
12:04First, in an interview with WNYC, he claimed to have lost four employees in the 2016 post-9-11
12:11nightclub shooting.
12:12He's never specified which company these individuals were employed at, but the New York Times expose
12:17found that none of the 49 victims appeared to have worked at any of the same companies
12:22Santos claims to have worked at.
12:24Additionally, a victim's advocate told Click Orlando that to her knowledge, no one employer
12:30lost more than two employees in the attack, which places further doubt on Santos' claims.
12:37Next, Santos claimed in a now-deleted interview to have been one of the first people in New
12:41York City to get COVID-19.
12:44In a clip of the conversation that was preserved on Twitter, he says that after he finally
12:48tested negative on March 26th, 2022, doctors were saying it was a miracle he survived,
12:55as the immunodeficiency, acute bronchitis, and brain tumor he was also suffering from
13:00made his immune system much weaker than the average person's.
13:04However, the Daily Beast reports that there seemed to be some inaccuracies in Santos'
13:09story, including the fact that he was making public appearances during the time he says
13:14he was hospitalized, and that he never really discussed his experience until then-President
13:19Trump tested positive in October 2020.