- Writing
- BBC News World
He said that he was the son of immigrants who had become “the total embodiment of the American dream”, but in reality his resume was full of lies.
George Santosa Republican candidate for the US Congress who was elected in the November elections, admitted to fabricating his extensive resume.
Santos, who claims to be son of Brazilian immigrants and won a representative seat from New York, Held who had worked in major firms from Wall Street and that he had completed a university degree. Nothing was real.
He also claimed to come from a poor and Jewish family background, having been educated in public schools, something that is also now being questioned.
The politician, who also said he was gay, making him the only openly gay Republican in the US Congress, assured following his lies were discovered that “we all do stupid things in life.”
However, he said that in any case he will assume his position on January 3 when a new legislative session begins in the North American country.
Your reality laid bare
Santos’s lies were revealed in a New York Times report, following a review of public documents that refuted the claims the Republican made during his election campaign.
Santos, 34, had claimed that he worked on Wall Street for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Both banks denied it.
When the story was published in the New York Times, his attorney claimed that the statements it contained misrepresented his record, describing them as “defamatory.”
Then the politician himself acknowledged to the New York Post that “I had never worked directly” for either bank and that he had made a “poor choice of words”.
Santos was an employee of a company called Link Bridge, of which he was vice president, and only did business with the two financial giants, he explained.
He also admitted that he did not go to college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from New York City’s Baruch College in 2010.
There are documents that prove that he had a non-profit organization called Friends For the Pets Unitedto help abandoned animals, but the beneficiary of one of the fundraising activities carried out by the entity never received the money.
Santos also did not make public that he was married to a woman and that he divorced in 2019.
Financial documents he filed during his campaign portrayed him as a man with money, who would have donated tens of thousands of dollars to other candidates.
However, his alleged company, the Devolder Organization, does not have a website or a Linkedin profile, according to the New York Times. There is also no evidence of an alleged Santos family fortune related to the world of real estate.
“I did not graduate from any institution of higher education. I am ashamed and I regret having embellished my resume,” he said following uncovering his lies.
“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” he added.
won’t quit
Despite criticism from his opponents, the Republican insists he is not a criminal and says he will serve out his two-year term in Congress.
Santos, who was elected to Congress on November 8 to represent parts of Long Island and Queens, defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman, who said his rival had admitted to being a liar and should be investigated by the Justice Department.
He also suggested that Santos should “resign and run once morest me in a special election” and “face the voters with his true past.”