New York congressman and serial con man George Santos told a judge in Seattle, Washington, several lies while speaking on behalf of a man he described as a “family friend” who was arrested in 2017 for planting “spoofing” devices. skimming” at ATMs.
On May 15, 2017, Mr. Santos was in the courtroom of King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell after Brazilian national Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha was arrested.
After identifying himself with his full name, “Jorge Anthony DeWalter Santos,” they asked him what he did for his job.
Santos replied: “I am an aspiring politician and I work at Goldman Sachs.”
When Judge O’Donnell asked Santos if he worked at Goldman Sachs “in New York,” the Republican hopeful answered in the affirmative and told the Seattle judge “yes.”
Although Santos had political ambitions at the time, his claim that he worked for an investment bank based in the Empire State was false.
late last year, a bank spokesman said The New York Times There is no record of Mr. Santos being employed there in any capacity.
then agreed New York Post He “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs, but denied lying, saying instead that he technically worked for the bank because he had “limited partnerships” with Linkbridge Investors Bank, a financial firm he worked for.
During two campaigns for a Long Island House seat, an unsuccessful one against Democrat Tom Suozzi in 2020 and his successful campaign two years later, the embattled Republican representative admitted that his biography was largely fabricated.
But a recording of Mr. Santos’ appearance in that Seattle courtroom was obtained six years ago and was first reported. policy, It indicates that long before his name appeared on a ballot, he had created much of his personal history out of thin air.
When he appeared on behalf of Drelha, who was extradited to Brazil in 2018, he pleaded guilty and served a seven-month prison sentence, saying the defendant was a “family friend.”
But when contacted by phone from Brazil, Trelha said Policy She met Santos at the end of 2016 through a Facebook group. After a while, she said, she moved in with Santos, who lives in Winter Park, Florida.
When police arrested him months later in Seattle after security cameras showed him removing a skimming device (devices used to copy electronic data from ATM cards) from an ATM in downtown Seattle, court documents told him they showed a fake Brazilian ID card and Ten Bank. The cards police suspect contain data collected from legitimate cards sent via a skimming device.
An empty FedEx package found on Drelha’s rental call was also sent from the Florida apartment she had moved into with Santos, police records show.
Court records show that Trelha’s public defender, Virginia Branham, told the judge that she traveled to Seattle twice to help her roommate. She added that if the judge granted bail, Santos would set up an Airbnb for Trelha’s extended stay.
The congressman-to-be’s appearance may have swayed the judge a bit: He lowered Trelha’s bail from $250,000 to $75,000, but Trelha remained in custody without posting bail.
