The seemingly endless web of lies spun by George Santos hasn’t affected his fledgling political career so far, but the newly elected congressman might not be able to get away with alleged fraud when it comes to his increasingly shady campaign finances. According to a new report, there was “blitz of amended Federal Election Commission filings on Tuesday” by Santos’ campaign after he admitted that the source of a highly dubious $700,000 loan was not personal. (Only candidates can loan money to their campaigns.)
However, Santos grew testy after being questioned by CNN about the nature of the loan and his campaign suddenly amending FEC filings. He denied that he had anything to do with the revised filings because it was handled by his “fiduciaries.” There’s just one small problem. Nobody knows who is in charge of handling Santos’ finances right now, and the new treasurer named in the revised filings denies accepting the job offer.
Via The Daily Beast:
That kerfuffle took place after the FEC posted new statements of organization filed by Santos’ five federal political committees, including his campaign, claiming their treasurer, Nancy Marks, had handed the books over to another accountant popular among Republican officials, Thomas Datwyler.
But Datwyler’s attorney, Derek Ross, told The Daily Beast those filings were inaccurate, saying Datwyler had rejected the Santos campaign’s offer earlier this week.
“On Monday we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer. It appears there’s a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize,” Ross said.
As for why Santos is having trouble finding a new treasurer to “clean up some of this mess,” unlike a candidate, a treasurer is in a world of trouble if they get caught filing shady paperwork.
“The treasurer is personally responsible for ensuring that paperwork filed with the government is accurate,” the deputy executive director for the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation told The Daily Beast. “We know team Santos is in the crosshairs of the DOJ. While we don’t know the full range of the investigation, one of the most commonly charged statutes in campaign finance is a provision of the criminal code which prohibits anyone from knowingly falsifying, concealing, or omitting a known fact from the federal government.”
(Via The Daily Beast)