Rep. George Santos now says $500K campaign loan wasn’t ‘personal’
Disgraced Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is backpedaling on a previous claim that he loaned his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal funds, Tuesday filings with the Federal Election Commission show.
The lying Long Islander isn’t telling the government where the six-figure loan came from, only that it didn’t come from his private nest egg, according to the amended filings first reported by The Daily Beast.
Santos’ political team amended hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports. On one page of the new filings related to the $500,000 loan, the box indicating the money was the “personal funds of the candidate” was unchecked. The former filing from September 2022 had the box checked for the loan. Both old and new filings claim the loan came “from the candidate.”
Santos also disclosed Tuesday that a separate $125,000 “loan from the candidate” was not from “personal funds,” but did not shed light on where the money came from or when the loan is due.
Santos, 34, who admitted last month to lying about his education, work history, religion and other details of his personal life, was already under federal investigation for loaning his 2022 campaign more than $700,000, despite declaring a salary of only $55,000 as recently as 2020.
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He has previously admitted to the Daily Beast that he used money from his sketchy consulting company, Devolder Organization LLC, to finance his House run, a possible campaign finance law violation.
Santos said during an interview with WABC radio Dec. 26 that he loaned his campaign “the money I paid myself through the Devolder Organization.” Financial disclosures claim he made $750,000 in salary from the firm as well as dividends valued between $1 million and $5 million.
Earlier this month, the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that Santos improperly used campaign funds for personal expenses — and likely conspired with corporations, foreign governments or others to illegally feed money to his successful 2022 House bid.
The group noted that dozens of Santos campaign expenditures recorded as costing $199.99 — a penny below the $200 threshold for FEC itemization — were “statistically implausible” and indicated the newly sworn in GOP lawmaker had “deliberately falsified” his reporting.
The group also alleged that Santos’ claims of having earned millions from his “supposed” consulting business were “vague, uncorroborated, and non-credible in light of his many previous lies,” and accused the business of being a front for illegal straw donors.