As a result of the 2022 midterm elections, Nassau County, part of Queens in New York, got a new representative: George Santos, an Ivy-league-educated, openly-gay Republican of Jewish descent who managed a real estate empire and family firm worth millions before establishing a charity that's saved over a thousand dogs.
Except--fun fact--none of that is true.
In what's turned out to be an explosive investigation into the 34-year-old Congressman-elect last month, The New York Times revealed that he's lied about his ancestry and family background, his education and work history, his financial history and standing, his charitable efforts--or, rather, lack thereof--amongst other things.
As a result, Santos faces scrutiny from an investigation opened by Nassau County district attorney, Ann Donnelly, who called his lies "nothing short of stunning." He's also gained the attention of NY Attorney General, Letitia James, according to her office.
While we await the findings of that investigation, here's a break down of all the things we thought we knew about George Santos--and what we know now:
He's a biracial descendent of Ukrainian Jews
Campaigning in a district that included the North Shore of Long Island and part of Queens, which is 20% Jewish, Santos' claim of Jewish descent was a particularly potent part of his political sales pitch.
But he didn't just come from any Jewish history--he's the descendant of Holocaust survivors, claiming, "I've seen how socialism destroys people's lives because my grandparents survived the Holocaust."
His campaign biography claimed that his maternal grandparents had fled Nazi persecution in Ukraine, settling in Belgium for a short period before making it to Brazil, where his parents had immigrated from. In an interview with Fox News, he added that his original last name, Zabrovsky, was changed to Santos when his family immigrated to the US.
However, according to genealogy records reviewed by The Forward, Santos' maternal grandparents were born in Brazil and he has no Ukrainian or Jewish roots.
He attended elite private schools, Horace Mann & Baruch College
During his first congressional campaign in 2019, the biography on his website stated that he had attended the elite Bronx private school, Horace Mann, but was unable to graduate from the institution due to family financial problems, a claim that he doubled-down on in a 2020 YouTube interview, where he said, "They sent me to a good prep school, which was Horace Mann Prep in the Bronx. And in my senior year of prep school, unfortunately, my parents fell on hard times, which was something that would later become known as the depression of 2008."
He also stated that he had graduated from Baruch College in 2010 and spent a short stint at New York University, but no record could be found of him ever being enrolled at any of the three schools, according to reporting by CNN.
Later, Santos admitted in an interview with The New York Post that he had not graduated from Baruch, or any other college, for that matter.
His mother died in the attack on 9/11
A biography of Santos on the National Republican Congressional Committee website reads: "George’s mother was in her office in the South Tower on September 11, 2001, when the horrific events of that day unfolded. She survived the tragic events on September 11th, but she passed away a few years later when she lost her battle to cancer."
This seems to directly contradict his July 2021 tweet, saying, "9/11 claimed my mothers [sic] life," which falls in line with his claim that his mother, Fatima Devolder, was the "first female executive at a major financial institution", working in the World Trade Center.
However, according to the Times' investigation, Devolder had a variety of occupations including as a domestic worker, a cook, and a nurse--but no financial executive positions! According to their findings, she spoke Portugese but no English and passed away on December 23, 2016 [according to her obituary]--15 years after the attacks on 9/11.
He was a Wall Street mogul
“Have you ever heard of a Goldman Sachs employee take the stage at the largest private equity conference in the world–SALT, run by Anthony Scaramucci–and berate their employer? Well, I did that,” Santos told a podcast in the summer of 2022. “And I did it in the fashion of renewable energy and global warming. This was the panel I was on. And they’re all talking about solar, wind, and this was back, what, seven years ago now? And I said, you know what, this is a scam. It’s taxpayer money that gets subsidized.”
His position at Goldman Sachs followed a position as an associate asset manager at Citigroup that Santos didn't find "fulfilling", despite disrupting company culture.
However, according to the Times, neither Goldman Sachs or Citigroup had any record of his employment, Citigroup's spokesman going further, saying that the position of "associate asset manager" didn't even exist.
Additionally, in an interview with CNN, Anthony Scaramucci said that Santos wasn't on a panel at his conference, nor did he even attend the event.
He ran a charity that saved 1000+ dogs
Like many previous Wall Street financiers, Santos turned to philanthropy, claiming in an online biography that he had started Friends of Pets unites, a non-profit animal rescue shelter in 2013. He wrote that over a five year period, they were able to "effectively rescue 2400 dogs and 280 cats, and successfully conducted the TNR (trap, neuter, and release) of over 3000 cats."
According to the Times, Santos held a fundraiser for the group including drinks, a live band, and a raffle--all for $50/person. However, the person that Santos claimed to be raising the money for said that they never received any of the funds.
Additionally, the IRS and attorney general's offices in both New Jersey and New York could find no registration for a "Friends of Pets United" charity.
Four of his employees were victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting
In a November interview with WNYC, Santos claimed that his company lost four employees as a result of the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL in 2016. However, the Times' investigation, having reviewed the obituaries of all 49 victims, could not find any that had ever worked for Mr. Santos.
He ran a family firm, valued in the millions of dollars
Like much of his life, Santos' finances appear to be a mystery. At the heart of that mystery lies a family real estate firm--according to Santos, valuing over $80million--called the Devolder Organization. In his 2021 campaign biography, Santos claimed to be a "Managing Member."
He paid $700,000 to his campaign from Devolder, a company that has no website or LinkedIn page, and didn't list any of the company's clients on his congressional financial disclosures. However, he did describe the venture as a "capital introduction consulting company."
According to the Times, Santos reported receiving a salary of $750,000 from the Devolder Organization, as well as $1 million in dividends.
He managed a real estate empire
“Will we landlords ever be able to take back possession of our property?” Santos wrote in a February 2021 tweet. “My family and I nearing a 1 year anniversary of not receiving rent on 13 properties!!! The state is collecting their tax, yet we get 0 help from the government. We worked hard to acquire these assets.”
Despite this claim, the Times could find no properties in New York City or Nassau County that are owned by Santos or the Devolder Organization. To the contrary, Santos himself has been evicted twice within recent years.
In 2015, he was evicted after he was mugged on his way to pay his $2,250 rent bill--according to a statement he gave to The Gothamist--however, NYPD found no record of the incident.
Then, in 2017, he was evicted by a different landlord, but also for unpaid rent, this time totaling over $10k, racked up over the course of five months,
He's always been "openly gay"
Claiming that he had "never experienced discrimination in the Republican Party," his identity as an out-and-proud gay man was at the heart of Santos' campaign. However, he failed to mention that he was previously married to a woman, which resulted in a divorce that finalized a mere 12 days prior to his first congressional campaign in 2020, according to newly uncovered information from The Daily Beast.
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