US Representative-elect George Santos faces federal and local investigations

NEW YORK – US federal and local prosecutors are investigating whether Representative-elect George Santos committed any crimes involving his finances

and lied about his background on the campaign trail.

The federal investigation into Mr Santos, which is being run by the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn, is focused at least in part on his financial dealings, according to a person familiar with the matter. The investigation was said to be in its early stages.

In a separate inquiry, the Nassau County, New York, district attorney’s office said it was looking into the “numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-elect Santos” during his

successful 2022 campaign to represent parts of Long Island and Queens.

It was unclear how far the Nassau County inquiry had progressed, but District Attorney Anne Donnelly said that Mr Santos’ fabrications “are nothing short of stunning”.

She added: “No one is above the law, and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”

A spokesman for the US attorney’s office declined to comment on Wednesday. The office’s interest in Mr Santos was reported earlier by ABC News, and the Nassau County inquiry was first reported by Newsday.

Both investigations followed reporting in The New York Times which uncovered that Mr Santos had made

false claims about his educational and professional background,

including whether he worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. The Times also found that Mr Santos had omitted key details about his business on required financial disclosures.

The statement by Ms Donnelly, a Republican like Mr Santos, added to the growing pressure on Mr Santos, who was elected in November to represent northern Nassau County and northeast Queens in Congress beginning in January.

In interviews with several other media outlets on Monday, Mr Santos confirmed some of the inaccuracies identified by the Times. He admitted that he had lied about graduating from Baruch College – he said he does not have a college degree – and that he had made misleading claims about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Mr Santos also acknowledged not having earned substantial income as a landlord, something he claimed as a credential during the campaign. In making his admissions, he has sought to explain his dishonesty as little more than routine résumé padding.

But among more than two dozen Long Island residents interviewed on Wednesday, many, including some who said they had supported Mr Santos, expressed disappointment at his actions and anger over his explanations.

Ms Felestasia Mawere, who said she had voted for Mr Santos and had given money to his campaign, insisted that he should not serve in Congress after admitting to having misled voters.

“He cheated,” said Ms Mawere, an accountant. Of the falsehoods in his biography, “he intentionally put that information, knowing that it would persuade voters like me to vote for him”, she added.

Nonetheless, Mr Santos appeared to retain the support of many in his party, including those who are set to be his constituents.

Ms Jackie Silver said she had voted for Mr Santos and would do so again. Ms Silver said that those calling for him to face further investigation, or even relinquish his seat, were only targeting him because he is a Republican.

“When they don’t like someone, they really go after them,” Ms Silver, a courier for Uber Eats and DoorDash, said, before echoing Mr Santos’ primary defence: “Everyone fabricates their résumé. I’m not saying it’s correct.”

Others who made financial contributions to Mr Santos’ campaign did not appear ready to cast him aside, although only a few of about three dozen donors contacted for comment responded.

House Republican leaders have so far been silent amid the persistent questions about Mr Santos, but he has received a tougher reception close to home. Ms Donnelly is just one of several Long Island Republicans to show a willingness to examine him closely over his statements during the campaign and on his financial disclosure forms.

On Tuesday, Rrepresentative-elect Nick LaLota, a Republican who won election in a neighbouring Long Island district, said the House Ethics Committee should investigate Mr Santos. Nassau County’s Republican Party chairman Joseph Cairo Jr said he “expected more than just a blanket apology” from Mr Santos.

Another incoming member of New York’s Republican House delegation, Mr Mike Lawler of Rockland County, sounded a similar refrain.

“Attempts to blame others or minimise his actions are only making things worse and a complete distraction from the task at hand,” Mr Lawler said in a message posted on Twitter. He added that Mr Santos should “cooperate fully” with any investigations.

Mr Santos and his representatives have not responded to the Times’ repeated requests for comment, including to detailed questions raised by the newspaper’s reporting and to an e-mail seeking a response to Ms Donnelly’s statement.

In an interview broadcast on Fox News Tuesday night, Mr Santos again asserted that he had merely “embellished” his résumé. The interviewer, Ms Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress who left the party in October, challenged him bluntly.

“These are blatant lies,” Ms Gabbard said. “And it calls into question how your constituents and the American people can believe anything that you may say when you’re standing on the floor of the House of Representatives.”

On Wednesday, one more possible misrepresentation emerged. During his first campaign, Mr Santos said on his website and on the campaign trail that he attended the Horace Mann School, an elite private school in Riverdale in the Bronx, but that his family’s financial difficulties caused him to drop out and get a high school equivalency diploma.

But a spokesman for the school told The Washington Post that it could not locate records of Mr Santos’ attendance, using several variations of his name. The spokesman confirmed that report to the Times. Mr Santos’ press team did not respond to a request for comment.

Questions also remain about how Mr Santos has generated enough personal wealth to be able, as campaign finance filings show, to lend his campaign US$700,000 (S$943,740). Mr Santos has said his money comes from his company, the Devolder Organisation, but he has provided little information about its operations.

On Wednesday, the news site Semafor published an interview with Mr Santos in which he said his work involved “deal building” and “specialty consulting” for a network of 15,000 wealthy people, family offices, endowments and institutions.

As an example, he said he might help one client sell a plane or a boat to someone else, and that he would receive fees or commissions. But he provided no details on his contracts or clients to Semafor and has not answered similar questions from the Times.

Mr Santos’ exercise in damage control has also involved cleaning up his personal biography, which was removed from his campaign website for most of Tuesday. By the time an updated version appeared on Wednesday, it had been stripped of several significant details.

Gone, for instance, was the claim that he had received a degree from Baruch College.

Another profile of him, on the House Republicans’ campaign committee website, said he had studied at New York University; that information is now gone as well. NYTIMES