A Republican representative-elect who appeared to falsify much of his resume also registered to vote in two states in 2016, according to public records, albeit with the second registration coming after Election Day.
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February 4, 2016: Ruling to evict Santos in New York
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February 9: Santos registers to vote in Florida
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November 8, Election Day: Santos votes in Florida
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November 14: Santos registers to vote in New York
George Santos, who won his election in November against a Democrat in one of the four New York congressional districts flipped by Republicans, left his home in New York, voted in Florida some nine months later, and was registered back in New York days later, according to public records.
Santos was evicted from a property in New York City in early February 2016, the records show. Within five days of the eviction court filing, he registered to vote in Florida. He voted in Florida on Election Day and, less than a week later, registered to vote in New York.
The timeline of his eviction and voter registrations are just the latest verifiable morsels of Santos’s biography, following much of his resume falling apart after closer inspection this month. Santos’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In his campaign, his misrepresentations ranged from his career to his education and philanthropic ventures. He claimed he was a Wall Street financier with jobs at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, neither of which had a record of his employment, the New York Times reported. Santos’s claims to have graduated from Baruch College were also unverifiable. He also said he employed four people who were killed in the June 2016 Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando, a claim the Times was unable to substantiate. An animal rescue charity Santos claimed to run was not registered as a nonprofit with the IRS.
Santos’s financial disclosures show that his salary grew significantly since his first congressional run against Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., in 2020, when he earned $55,000 at a company called LinkBridge Investors. Santos’s most recent disclosure lists a salary of $750,000 from the Devolder Organization, an LLC he created in May 2021. Santos loaned his campaign more than $700,000 this cycle.
On his campaign website, Santos described the LLC as his family’s firm, where he was a managing member who oversaw asset allocations. The organization, which is based in New York and registered in Florida, dissolved in September. The day after the New York Times reported multiple inconsistencies in Santos’s resume, Santos reinstated the LLC, according to public records from the Florida Department of State. (The reinstatement was first reported by Talking Points Memo.) Its mailing address is listed at an apartment in Merritt Island, Florida, which public records show was purchased by a couple in August.
According to campaign finance disclosures, Santos’s campaign raised just under $400,000 from individuals and organizations in Florida.
In a statement Monday, Santos’s lawyer did not dispute any of the reported inconsistencies but said the Times was “attempting to smear his good name with these defamatory allegations.” On Thursday, Santos wrote in a tweet that he had a “story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more.”
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