George Santos

Republican congressman George Santos has been indicted on 13 criminal charges including fraud, theft of public funds, Money Laundering and making false statements to Congress.

The 20-page indictment released on Wednesday centres its accusations against the New York politician primarily around three separate fraudulent schemes.

According to the indictment, Mr Santos used a political consultant to seek donations to a Company that he falsely claimed was a political fund in support of his campaign.

Instead, prosecutors say, he used The Money for personal expenses including designer clothes and credit card payments.

The indictment says that Mr Santos falsely portrayed The Company as a non-profit campaign group exempt from some caps on campaign fundraising.

Donors were told their money would be used to buy television advertising. Instead, the funds were transferred to Mr Santos' personal account.

They were used " to make cash withdrawals, personal purchases of luxury designer clothing, credit card payments, a car payment, payments on personal debts" and payments to Mr Santos' personal associates.

Because Mr Santos and others sent emails and texts to solicit the donations, prosecutors charged him under US wire fraud laws. And the government says the transfer of money to his personal accounts constitutes Money Laundering .

Another section of the indictment alleges that in 2020, The Congressman applied for unemployment benefits as part of a federal Covid relief programme.

He eventually received nearly $25,000 (£20,000) - Even though he worked at an investment firm and was on a salary of about $120,000 (£95,000) per year.

Just a few weeks prior to claiming benefits, he was required to file financial disclosures as part of an ultimately unsuccessful bid to get elected to Congress in November 2020.

He did not, as required, disclose his income from the investment fund that employed him, and instead reported income of $55,000 (£43,000) from a separate Company - a sum that was overstated, prosecutors say.

Two years later he was again required to disclose his finances prior to his winning 2022 Congressional run.

He also lied on that form, prosecutors say, and falsely claimed he earned $750,000 (£590k) from his Company , the Devolder Organization, and that he had large sums in bank accounts.

At the same time, Mr Santos neglected to report the unemployment benefits that he had previously collected.

He could Face Up to 20 years in prison if convicted on The Most serious charges, according to the US Justice Department.

" He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to The House of Representatives, " said Breon Peace, a US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York .

" Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, " Mr Peace said.

Source of news: bbc.com