'The Talented Mr Ripley'

[toucana]

 

An article in The Atlantic by former Congressman Steve Israel tells an interesting tale of how a complete con-man has become the new Republican Congressman-elect in New York’s 3rd district - one which Steve Israel himself represented for 16 years.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/george-santos-fraud-long-island/672587/

George Santos is a character who seems to have stepped straight out of the pages of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel - or its excellent film adaptation starring Matt Damon - ‘The Talented  Mr Ripley’(1999).

Practically every statement made by this Congressman-elect during his recent election campaign has turned out to be a complete falsehood. The resumé details of his high school and university education are completely false in every respect, ditto for his claimed employement history with Goldman Sachs amongst others.

George Santos has claimed to be Jewish, though he is actually Roman Catholic - he subsequently tried to finesse this by claiming he only said he was ‘Jew-ish, not Jewish’ - Santos says that his parents were refugees from the holocaust , but research shows they have always lived in Brazil. He claims that his mother was in the South Tower of the WTC on 9/11 - she was not.  He also claims to be openly gay, though he is in fact married.

You can find a full run-down and exposé of all his lies in an entertaining and excoriating interview with Tulsi Gabbard on Fox News !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWaj7-uwLzg

[Peterkin]

Well, so what? Another one was president already.

[toucana]

37 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

Well, so what? Another one was president already.

There is a dictum “Follow the money”. Where did this guy get the money to launch a second attempt at a Congressional campaign? Who is covertly paying him? What interests does he really represent ?

Some of those answers are alluded to in a photo of a document shown at the end of that video clip I linked. It shows details of filings in Florida for an LLC called Devolder, a holding company which magically transformed George Santos from a penniless deadbeat who had been twice evicted for non-payment of rent  in 2017, into a millionaire by 2020.

One of the principal investors in this LLC appears to be an associate of a Russian oligarch closely allied to Vladimir Putin. And by a curious coincidence George Santos is an outspoken critic of US support for Ukraine, and is a sympathetic apologist for Putin .

“The best poliiticians that money can buy” - as they say.

[Peterkin]

I would venture to say the US electoral system is not operating at maximum efficacy.

 

[TheVat]

5 hours ago, toucana said:

George Santos has claimed to be Jewish, though he is actually Roman Catholic - he subsequently tried to finesse this by claiming he only said he was ‘Jew-ish, not Jewish’ -

It is unforgivable that he would steal and then distort (for such base purposes) Jonathan Miller's classic Beyond the Fringe line.  IIRC Miller's original line was "I'm not a Jew...but I am Jew-ish..."

If he won't step down, he should like James Traficant be expelled from the HoR.  

 

[CharonY]

I would assume that the main issue here is the financing source. Everything else seems to be fairly accepted practice at this point.

[Peterkin]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

I would assume that the main issue here is the financing source.

Yes, of course. Is there a correct legal procedure to deal with that?

[toucana]

19 hours ago, Peterkin said:

Yes, of course. Is there a correct legal procedure to deal with that?

‘Mr Ripley’ is now reported  by the NYT to be under  federal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, and also by the Nassau Coumty N.Y. district attorney’s office of Anne Donnelly. Both are looking into the “numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-elect Santos’ during his successful 2022 campaign  to represent parts of  of Long Island  and Queens”.

NBC News reports that George Santos lent his own election campaign $700,000 in 2021, even though he had signed a declaration on a campaign finance form that he was making just $55,000 per year in 2020 - which meant he would have had to save 13 years of income in its entirety to make such a donation.

Under FEC regulations, candidates are required to itemise and declare campaign donations above $5000, so in the absence of records that could account for this $700,000 loan, investigators will be taking a long hard look at his state and federal tax returns to determine whether they are looking at tax fraud, campaign finance fraud - or both.

Edited December 30, 2022 by toucana
corrected 14 to 13

[Peterkin]

Great! It's a start. Why the fla'ing fu'k didn't they do it to that other guy before he caused the deaths of so many Americans?

 

[toucana]

Ritchie Torres, a Democratic Congressional  representative for New York's 15th District has tweeted his intention of introducing  a new bill called the SANTOS Act  - (Stop Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker)  - which would require candidates to disclose their educational, employment, and military history under oath.

'Mr Ripley' could yet wind up being immortalised by an Act of Congress

[Peterkin]

Good! They really out to add business interests and tax returns.

[TheVat]

In Highsmith's novel, Ripley ends up getting away with everything and is a rich yachtsman.  Highsmith leaves you with one line about a moment of paranoia where Ripley wonders if there will be policemen waiting on the next pier, then he shrugs it off.  

Herschel Walker's loss in Georgia makes me think even fairly conservative states have limited tolerance for such over-the-top levels of fabrication, so maybe the SANTOS act could get some traction.  It might get pared down a bit in committee, but anything would be welcome.  Fraudsters like Santos drain public confidence in government further and waste the time of legislative bodies when there is real work to be done.  

[iNow]

15 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Fraudsters like Santos drain public confidence in government further and waste the time of legislative bodies when there is real work to be done.  

That’s exactly the point, and why they’re so often supported by more invisible hands 

[toucana]

In case you missed it - a photo of Santos flashing White Power gang signs on the floor of Congress  - published by Reuters and taken during the chaotic 15 ballots to elect a US Speaker  - Also answers to 'Mr Ripley', and currently wanted in connection with cheque-book fraud charges in Brazil which he confessed to back in 2008 before skipping the country.

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, toucana said:

In case you missed it - a photo of Santos flashing White Power gang signs on the floor of Congress  - published by Reuters and taken during the chaotic 15 ballots to elect a US Speaker  - Also answers to 'Mr Ripley', and currently wanted in connection with cheque-book fraud charges in Brazil which he confessed to back in 2008 before skipping the country.

Not surprising. Looks like the world's going to cave on him anyway. There's some real crap in the GOP atm.

[toucana]

 

Mr(s) Ripley has angrily denied new reports today that he performed as a drag queen in Brazil back in 2008. Journalist Marisa Kabas interviewed another Brazilian drag queen called Eula Rochard who befriended George Santos when he lived near Rio, and obtained a photograph of them in drag together at a Gay Pride event at Icarai beach in Brazil in 2008.

Rochard said the congressman was a "poor" drag queen in 2005, with a simple black dress, but in 2008 "he came back to Niteroi with a lot of money," and a flamboyant pink dress to show for it. Santos competed in a drag beauty pageant that year using the drag name Kitara Ravache but lost, Rochard said. "He's changed a lot, but he was always a liar. He was always such a dreamer," Rochard said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/embattled-us-rep-santos-was-drag-queen-brazil-pageants-say-associates-2023-01-19/

The New York Post has since released images taken from a video of Santos in drag, and being interviewed in Portugese at a Pride event on Niteroi beach near Rio in 2005.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/19/george-santos-boasted-about-brazil-drag-shows-in-2005/

George Santos who is a staunch supporter of Florida's controversial "Parental Rights in Education" law, which prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, is to be seated on the House Small Business Committee, and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in a few days time according to The Hill.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3816976-george-santos-gets-two-committee-assignments/

[Genady]

Eastern District of New York | Congressman George Santos Charged With Conspiracy, Wire Fraud, False Statements, Falsification of Records, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Credit Card Fraud | United States Department of Justice

[toucana]

1 minute ago, Genady said:

Eastern District of New York | Congressman George Santos Charged With Conspiracy, Wire Fraud, False Statements, Falsification of Records, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Credit Card Fraud | United States Department of Justice

According to this CNN report, George Santos is facing 10 new federal charges contained in a superseding indictment (in addition to the 13 he already faced). The new charges arise in part from a guilty plea by Nancy Marks - his former campaign treasurer - and they allege that he stole the identities of campaign donors, and racked up fraudulent charges on their credit cards.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/10/politics/george-santos-superseding-indictment-doj/index.html

[toucana]

George Santos has been expelled from the House of Representatives  after a vote on the house floor.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/12/01/congress/santos-expelled-00129588

The voting went 311  - 114 in favour of his expulsion, following a damning Ethics Committee report. He becomes only the third politician to be expelled in this way without a federal conviction since the Civil War. The four top GOP leaders in the house  (including Speaker Mike Johnson) voted against expelling him.

[TheVat]

 

Let me guess, the House members who have been strongly supporting a well-known fat pathological liar the past few years were the ones reluctant to cast a vote against this fat pathological liar.