‘Lies could fill a CVS receipt’: George Santos earns ethics rap before swearing in

Lying Long Island Rep. George Santos has been slapped with an ethics complaint over his shoddy reporting and shady finances — as he waits to be sworn into office.

The liberal American Bridge 21st Century Super PAC, in the complaint filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics, alleges that Republican Santos falsified his financial disclosure reports.

Santos last week admitted to The Post he lied about multiple claims he made on the campaign trail, including that he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and graduated from CUNY’s Baruch College and that he was Jewish.

In reality, he never graduated from the high school he claimed to attend, let alone college — though he said he obtained a GED. The New York Times initially exposed discrepancies in Santos’ biography.

The Ethics in Government Act requires that candidates for federal office truthfully disclose their financial interests, including those that may conflict with their official duties.

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“George Santos’ lies could fill a CVS receipt. But the American people deserve to know how he was able to finance his congressional campaign, and who was writing the checks. Santos should be held accountable for falsifying his financial records to protect his mysterious donors and breach public trust,” said American Bridge President Pat Dennis.

“Mr. Santos’ conduct deprived the voters of New York’s 3rd Congressional District of important information to assess his fitness for federal office. I respectfully request that you promptly investigate this matter and take appropriate action as soon as possible,” Dennis said in his Tuesday letter to Omar Ashmawy, chief counsel and staff director of the Office of Congressional Ethics.

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The American Bridge complaint said Santos failed to meet deadlines in filing his financial report with the federal government.

Santos filed his first disclosure statement on September 6, 2022, more than a
year and a half after becoming a congressional candidate, when he began accepting campaign contributions. He filed his statement of candidacy on April 17, 2021.

The law requires candidates to file a financial disclosure report within thirty days of becoming a candidate or on or before May 15 of that calendar year and no later than
thirty days before any election in which the candidate is participating, the complaint said.

“Mr. Santos’ failure to file the required disclosure statements deprived the public of critical
information about his assets as he was running for federal office. Mr. Santos, for instance,
donated a total of $705,000 to his campaign. Of this amount, he donated $580,000 before he ever filed a financial disclosure report for the 2022 election cycle,” the complaint said.

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Santos’ sudden wealth after years of debt and rent arrears raises red flags, the complaint said.

“Federal campaign law requires that candidates only donate personal funds. However, it is impossible to know whether Mr. Santos had the resources necessary to fund such large contributions to his campaign with personal funds. He only filed one disclosure report in 2022 after he made the contributions, the complaint saud.

Dennis raised questions about the accuracy of the financial assets and income Santos reported.

Candidates must disclose the name of each bank that holds accounts valued at $5,000.

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“Mr. Santos’ 2022 report disclosed a checking account balance of more than $100,000 and a savings account balance of more than $1 million. The report, however, does not identify the name of either banking institution for these accounts,” the complaint said.

“Nor has Mr. Santos disclosed any income from these accounts. An account of over $1 million would almost certainly have crossed the $200 income threshold. Yet Mr. Santos failed to properly report any interest income as required by the Act.”

Candidates are also required to report any real estate held for investment purposes valued at more than $1,000 as well as any unearned income, such as rental income and dividends, that exceeds $200 during the reporting period.

Santos reported an apartment in Rio de Janeiro on his 2022 report, which appears to be property held for investment purposes. But Santos failed to disclose any unearned income associated with the property, the complaint said.

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Santos also disclosed that he received income of at least $1 million based on his ownership interest in the Devolder Organization. 

“However,” the complaint said, “based on public reports, the financial data company Dun & Bradsheet estimates that the Devolder Organization, which formed in May 2021, only had revenue of $43,688 as of July 39, 2022,6  making Mr. Santos’s disclosure of $1,000,000 in unearned income highly suspect.”

The complaint noted that Santos’ financial report clashes with some of his public statements.

Santos once said he has a “family fortune in real estate,” but the only property listed on his report is an apartment in Rio de Janeiro.

In a recent interview with The Post, said he did not own any other real estate.

The complaint also noted that Santos has described himself as a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor” but did not report any retirement assets or investment assets other than his bank accounts and the apartment.

“Mr. Santos has publicly admitted that he fabricated certain aspects of his background,
including his work history and college education. Thus, his personal disclosure report should be subjected to additional scrutiny,” Dennis of American Bridge said.