SHIFTING STORY: George Santos was just forced to alter his financial statements

UNDERWATER: Santos campaign is refunding more than it's raising

It’s been a few weeks since Representative George Santos (R-NY) was sworn in, and hardly a day has passed since without another allegation or admission that some part of his public persona is a lie.

Now, however, the bombshells are moving on from aliases and drag dress-up sessions to financial falsehoods — and Santos just amended one of his FEC filings.

Santos has said that he provided his own campaign with a $500k loan of personal funds and has reported being paid well over that amount by the Devolder Organization, a company he says was set up to manage his family’s assets — and which he also identifies as the source of his wealth.

Now, he’s changed his statement ever so slightly, no longer claiming that the money came from personal funds.

It’s one more financial oddity, following a series of unusual business activities by the Devolder Organization — the company first shut down, then re-opened via a filing from Santos, then suddenly relocated from a penthouse to a mailbox.

He still has not clarified the purpose of closing and re-opening a corporation that was purportedly intended to manage assets.

In two amended filings, Santos still describes both a $500k and a $125k cash infusion as a loan from the candidate to the campaign — but he’s withdrawn the claim that these are “personal funds,” without bothering to describe where the funds actually came from.

“Late Tuesday afternoon, Santos’ political operation filed a flurry of amended campaign finance reports, telling the feds, among other things, that a $500,000 loan he gave to his campaign didn’t, in fact, come from his personal funds as he’d previously claimed,” The Daily Beast reported.
Now Santos has one more reason to dodge reporters, after scolding them for trying to interview him about photos in which he appeared in drag, as his party fights to demonize drag queens and portray them as predators.
It also comes alongside Santos making the claim of being a victim of a series of crimes himself.
He says he was the subject of an assassination attempt, that his house was robbed because he attended a right-wing party, and that he was mugged in broad daylight near Trump Tower by people who took his briefcase and shoes.
The NY Daily News reported on Santos’ claims, quoting his bizarre description of the alleged event:

“They robbed me, took my briefcase, took my shoes and my watch. And that was in broad daylight…They weren’t Black. They were even white.”

At this time, NY City Police have not confirmed that Santos made any report of the alleged incident.

Original reporting by Roger Sollenberger at The Daily Beast.

Stephanie Bazzle

Steph Bazzle is a news writer who covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph. Sign up for all of her stories to be delivered to your inbox here: