Santos just made up his personal "donations" to his campaign, to get RNCC funding

[muriel_volestrangler]

According to his campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission, Santos helped power his House bid with personal loans of more than $500,000. Santos’ financial disclosures suggested the sum came as he enjoyed a massive surge in income with a seven-figure salary and more than one million in the bank. It was never quite clear how Santos went from making $55,000 to having a vast personal fortune in the span of a matter of months.
...
The criminal information filed by prosecutors on Thursday accused Marks of working with Santos on a “scheme” to qualify for “financial and logistical support” from a program run by an unnamed party committee by inflating the amount of money his campaign had taken in. The court filing alleged that Santos’ supposed loans were crucial to furthering the plan. And not only did he not make a $500,000 loan which he claimed to, but he “did not have the funds necessary to make such loans at the time,” the filing said.

Prosecutors did not identify the “National Party Committee” that ran the program, which Santos ultimately qualified for. However, details appear to point to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which leads efforts to elect GOP House candidates. The NRCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
...
So, at a March 21 “Path to Victory” meeting with committee employees, Santos allegedly told staffers that he had made the $500,000 loan to himself.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/weve-finally-solved-the-mystery-of-george-santos-mysterious-fortune

Good lord, that’s comedy gold! The only reason the possibility that Santos was lying about the money never occurred to me was that I assumed campaign contribution deposits would be verified by…someone. Apparently the whole thing is as regulated as a fictional Nigerian prince’s email fundraising campaign.

Anyhoo, the kicker is that even though they now know Santos blatantly ripped them off, House Repubs almost certainly won’t expel him. They can’t even govern with the narrow majority they have.

https://balloon-juice.com/2023/10/06/scammers-slingers-open-thread/

[underpants]

1. He lives in an absolute fantasy world

[Think. Again.]

2. It's like a "One Size Fits All" headline....

"Santo Just Made Up His (fill in the blank) "

[tanyev]

3. It was an aspirational loan.

[struggle4progress]

4. Jail-o! Jail-o! Daylight come and we're gonna break rock!

Jail is a jail is a jail is a jail is a jail is a jail-o!
Daylight come and we're gonna break rock!

[Autumn]

5. When does Santos get charged and arrested?

[Brother Buzz]

7. He's already been arrested and arraigned, and is out on bond/bail...

George Santos' aunt and dad signed his bail bond to keep him out of jail while awaiting trial

[Autumn]

8. Anyone check to see if they really did?

[Brother Buzz]

9. Yes. They put up paper on their house to satisfy the bond

[TSExile]

6. Well, of course he did.

He is just one of the multitude of reasons why I changed my voter registration after voting R for years (mea culpa!!)...and will never go back. The Republican party is poison.

[progressoid]

10. I love how Marks is trying to blame him & play the victim. She's been around the block a time or two

From the NYT:

But while the kind of egregious irregularities in Mr. Santos’s reports do not appear in other campaigns she worked on, The Times found that Ms. Marks’s accounting and business practices repeatedly drew suspicion. Former clients have taken her to court, saying she overpaid herself or failed to pay bills, as have a long line of creditors. Her close business ties with a felon alienated some onetime allies.

And in at least two previously unreported instances, her actions have attracted scrutiny from the U.S. attorney’s office for New York’s Eastern District, according to several people with direct knowledge of the inquiries. In one, prosecutors investigated allegations that Ms. Marks attempted to help broker the sale of a ballot line; in another, authorities scrutinized whether she had embezzled money from clients. She was never charged.

...

“There are very fundamental errors that no accountant of her experience would make,” said Brett G. Kappel, an elections lawyer who advises both political parties. “If she submitted these knowing they contained false information, there are going to be consequences.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/nyregion/nancy-marks-santos-treasurer.html