In one of the funniest but yet predictable news stories of 2023, on Thursday the world learned that shady GOP congressman/prolific swindler George Santos used campaign contributions to pay for OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox, Sephora goods, and a lot more that campaign funds should not be used for. Soon after this news was released, Santos announced that he would not seek reelection, which is probably wise what with the prison of it all.
A few hours after this news broke, journalist Marisa Kabas published a post on her Substack page about the doctor who performed the Botox injections on Santos. Turns out, Santos’ Botox guy is almost as shady as he is. Almost.
After digging into the House Ethics Committee’s report on Santos’ shady campaign contribution spending (what a wild week in Congress!), Kabas learned that an outfit named Mirza Aesthetics was paid to perform the injections, and Mirza Aesthetics is owned and operated by Dr. Muhammad Mirza. Kabas then did some digging.
Mirza’s bio shows no reference to dermatology or aesthetic certification of any kind, but he’s absolutely been performing these procedures. Back in 2019, he sued four Yelp reviewers who claimed to have received his Botox services and gave him a one star review. Reviewers accused him of “pre-loading Botox into the syringes so he can dilute it, of injecting people in shady locations, of pushing more product on patients and of generally being a scam artist.”
Similar to his cardiovascular business, patients said his Botox business was primarily mobile. He “works out of gym bags in some back end storage room that was sketchy and dirty. Felt like we were filming a porno,” one reviewer wrote.
Further, Dr. Mirza apparently had his medical license suspended in 2021 for performing improper penile and breast enhancements.
State authorities say he traveled to dozens of rented locations throughout New Jersey and neighboring states performing “invasive aesthetic procedures with inadequate formal training and little regard for the health and safety of his patients,” Acting state Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck announced Tuesday.
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The doctor would see up to 30 patients a day in “makeshift spaces with substandard protocols for medical recordkeeping, patient follow-up, and storage of medical supplies, including products that require refrigeration and strict temperature control,” Bruck added…In one case, he used an injectable dermal filler in a nonsurgical penile enhancement procedure that caused permanent harm to a patient who suffered complications that required his hospitalization, where he underwent two emergency surgical interventions, the Attorney General’s Office alleges.
As icing on the cake, Habas reports that earlier this year “Mirza pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in New Jersey for engaging ‘in a scheme to bill the Amtrak health care plan for fraudulent claims for services that either were never provided or were medically unnecessary.’”
It’s kind of poetic that George Santos managed to find the George Santos of doctors to perform his Botox injections, if they were even Botox injections and not, you know, something else one would not want to have performed by a dude in a van who apparently carries around his products in gym bags.
Coincidentally, Vice did a video profile of Dr. Mirza back in 2019 for its “One Star Reviews” series and it does not disappoint. You can watch it below.