CNN
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A confused representative’s campaign. George Santos He filed updated reports with federal regulators on Tuesday that appear to raise new questions about the provenance of the substantial personal loans he made to his campaign.
The New York Republican, who has been the subject of several investigations into his finances and his autobiographical and autobiographical fabrications, previously said he loaned his campaign more than $700,000.
But in two newly filed documents with the Federal Election Commission, the boxes indicating that the $500,000 and $125,000 loans came from personal funds were not checked.
The Daily Beast First reported on the amended FEC filings.
Campaign-finance experts say it’s not immediately clear what those changes will be.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the loans,” Jordan Liebowitz of the Washington-based Watchdog for Citizens’ Responsibility and Ethics told CNN on Wednesday. “This is without a doubt the most confusing FEC filing I’ve ever seen.”
In all, Santos filed 10 amended statements with the FEC on Tuesday — through early 2021 — as his campaign comes under intense scrutiny. The campaign has a history of filing multiple amendments to its original filings.
“This is probably the worst record of any candidate we’ve ever seen,” Leibovitz said. But if Santos did not provide the money for the loans, it raises the question of whether it came from a prohibited source, he said.
While candidates can contribute — or lend — unlimited amounts of their own funds to their campaigns, accepting a six-figure contribution from another person is illegal. It is against the law for a corporation to donate any amount directly to a congressional candidate.
CNN has reached out to Santos’ attorney, Joe Murray, for comment. A congressional aide to Santos said his office staff could not comment on personal or campaign matters.
Some of the biggest questions surrounding Santos’s campaign activities center on a financial meltdown that allowed the Republican Party to loan $705,000 to his successful 2022 campaign. Santos flipped a Democratic-held seat on Long Island in November, helping Republicans capture a narrow House majority.
In Santos’ previous, failed bid for Congress in 2020, his personal financial disclosure form listed no assets and a $55,000 salary. Two years later, Santos reported a $750,000 salary from the Devolter Organization.
He has given various explanations as to the nature of Devolter’s business activities.
In an interview with Semaphore, Santos described DeWalter as doing “deal building” and “specialty consulting” for “high net worth individuals” and said he had “done two million dollar deals” within the first six months of launch. Company. A recent FEC complaint against Santos from the Campaign Legal Center notes that Santos previously called it “his family’s company” and described it as overseeing $80 million in assets under management.
