A résumé embattled U.S. Rep. George Santos submitted to the Nassau County Republican Committee in 2020 was publicly released by The New York Times Wednesday and contains more detailed falsehoods about his personal and professional background.
The Times obtained the two-page resume in which Santos claims he graduated in the top 1 percent with a 3.89 GPA at Baruch College, doubled revenue growth as a project manager at Goldman Sachs in an eight-month period and tripled sales growth within the first six months as a vice president at LinkBridge Investors.
Last month Santos said he “embellished” parts of his resume but continues to assure the general public that he will continue to serve the 3rd Congressional District. As the resume shed a stronger light on the congressman’s deceit, his campaign’s donation list continues to raise eyebrows.
The Times reported that there are no records of where the funds from one of the biggest donors to Santos’ campaign went. RedStone Strategies received a $25,000 donation from an undisclosed donor via the company’s Wells Fargo account on Oct. 21, according to The Times. The company, described online as one composed of “experts in marketing and others in politics” listed the Devolder Organization, headed up by Santos, as a managing officer.
Another twist in the filings is that the Federal Election Commission has no record of RedStone Strategies, The Times reported.
“I don’t see a record by a committee of that name registered with the FEC, and our regulations would be if a political group raises more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, they would be required to register with the FEC within 10 days,” Christian Hilland, a spokesman for the agency told The Times.
Efforts to reach Santos for comment were unavailing.
A Daily Beast report also claims the congressman “almost certainly” received a $500 campaign donation from Rocco Oppedisano, who was charged with smuggling 15 foreigners and $200,000 into the United States in 2019. Oppedisano’s family operates Il Bacco, the Little Neck restaurant where Santos also held his victory party at on Election Night.
Financial disclosure reports showed Santos spent over $4,500 during 25 different visits to Il Bacco during the campaign cycle and showed the campaign owed the restaurant more than $18,000 for the Election Night event.
Oppedisano, an Italian national, was expelled from the country following the 2019 incident. Federal officials charged him with smuggling undocumented immigrants into the United States and with an attempt for him to re-enter the country illegally.
Santos’ campaign outspent other Republican House winners on Long Island and his Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, on flights, hotels and restaurants during the campaign, according to financial disclosure reports.
Santos spent over $42,000 on flights, more than the $17,637 spent on flights by Republican Congressman-elect Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park), Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), Congressman-elect Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Zimmerman.
He also shelled out nearly $30,000 on hotels compared to the $22,233 by the other four. Filings show spending by the Santos campaign at the Garden City Hotel, W Hotel in Miami Beach and Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C.
Santos also laid out more than $31,000 at restaurants, with Garbarino in second place with expenditures of $24,155.
The filings include an outlay of nearly $11,000 to a company called Cleaner 123 under “apartment rental for staff.”
Financial disclosures also showed that four political action committees with ties to Santos and his family contributed almost $185,000 to the Nassau County Republican Party, money that will be returned, according to Chairman Joseph Cairo.
The Rise NY PAC contributed $64,225 to the Nassau GOP and $62,500 to the Town of Hempstead Republican Party. The Nassau GOP also received $47,966 from the Devolder Santos Nassau Victory Committee, $10,000 from the GADS (George Anthony Devolder Santos) PAC and $750 from Devolder-Santos For Congress.
Cairo told Newsday that the Nassau GOP will return the Rise NY money, which totals $126,725 and reiterated the lack of support Santos has from the organization.
Over the past two years, Santos also donated thousands to Nassau County organizations and elected officials.
Included in the filings is $500 to Elaine Philips’ campaign when she was running for Nassau County comptroller for an event donation, a personal contribution of $500 to the Sands Point-Port Washington Republican Committee, $750 to the Nassau County Republican Primary Campaign, $1,000 to D’Esposito’s campaign, $250 to the Glen Cove Knights of Columbus, $200 to the campaign for Vhibuti Jha, who ran for the state’s 16th Assembly District, and $500 to the campaign for Ruka Anzai, who ran for the state’s 13th Assembly District.
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represented the district until 2023 and defeated Santos in 2020, told CNN that the Republican had $40,000 in his campaign account two years ago before reporting an excess of $700,000 this year.
“I never even mentioned his name in the campaign, I beat him by 12 points, Suozzi said. “Now, all of a sudden he has all this money that he loaned from himself. When he was running against me, he was being evicted for non-payment of rent.”
Additionally, data from the Federal Election Commission revealed the Republican received nearly $30,000 in campaign donations from Andrew Intrater, the cousin of Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekslberg, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vekselberg, who was born in Ukraine, made his first million from selling scrap copper before purchasing several aluminum smelters and forming the conglomerate Sual Holding in 1996, according to Forbes. Vekselberg merged Sual Holding with Russian Alumnium to create UC Rusal.
The oligarch’s $90 million, 255-foot yacht was seized by the Spanish government in April at the order of the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice said the yacht “was subject to forfeiture based on violations of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering, and sanction statutes.”
