WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has admitted to fabricating key details of his biography, received payments as recently as April 2021 from a financial services company accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a “classic Ponzi scheme,” according to a court-appointed lawyer reviewing the firm’s assets, a Washington Post report says.
Santos did not divulge any income from the company, Florida-based Harbor City Capital, on a financial disclosure form required of all federal candidates. The payments the lawyer described to The Washington Post, which have not been previously reported, indicate that Santos received money at least a month after he has said he left the firm — and mere weeks before registering a business called the Devolder Organization that he has claimed as the basis for his wealth. The lawyer, Katherine C. Donlon, declined to tell The Post the amount Santos was paid.
Santos, whose election to Congress from Long Island last year helped the GOP secure its narrow majority, has apologized for what he called “résumé embellishment,” but he has refused to step aside. On Wednesday, he rebuffed calls to resign from fellow New York Republicans, including leaders of the state GOP and the party in Nassau County, which had previously endorsed him. The congressman’s deceptions have already sparked an investigation by the district attorney’s office in Nassau County, as well as complaints before the Federal Election Commission. Authorities in Brazil are also seeking to revive a fraud case against Santos dating to 2008.
During his first run for Congress in 2020, Santos reported earning a salary of $55,000 from a previous employer in the financial industry. His fortunes then improved dramatically, according to the financial disclosure he filed during his 2022 campaign: He earned an annual salary of $750,000 and received more than $1 million in dividends from the Devolder Organization. He also lent his campaign more than $700,000, according to campaign finance records. A key unanswered question is how Devolder made its money. The congressman has given various explanations about the firm — including saying it is an operation focused on “asset allocations” and an effort to help “all the people who were left adrift” at Harbor City.
The financial disclosure form, filed in September of last year, covers earnings starting in January 2021 and anticipated through December 2022. It does not mention Harbor City.