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The request indicates an “active criminal investigation” by the Justice Department, a campaign finance lawyer told The Washington Post.
The Department of Justice has told the Federal Election Commission to hold off on any enforcement action against Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) in the DOJ’s clearest signal yet that it’s conducting its own criminal investigation into Santos’ campaign finances, The Washington Post reported Friday.
The Justice Department also asked the FEC to provide any relevant documents for an investigation, sources told the Post.
Santos has issued a plethora of lies about his heritage, family, education and work experience. He has ignored calls for his resignation and has claimed he merely “embellished” his résumé.
Changes this week on his campaign finance forms also indicated that a $700,000 donation that had been identified as his own personal loan did not come from Santos. That leaves a significant mystery about the source of the funds.
Santos’ campaign committee told federal regulators on Wednesday that it had hired a new treasurer, but the man it named said he had not accepted the job.
Santos has said he was making $55,000 a year before he launched the Devolder Organization in 2021. Funding for the mysterious company — which had no website and was dissolved not long after it was started — is murky. But Santos claimed it rocketed his salary to $750,000 (with up to $10 million in dividends).