[ad_1]
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) tried to dealer a cryptocurrency transaction with a political donor whereas working for Congress in 2020, in accordance with a New York Instances report. Within the beforehand unreported incident, Santos teamed up with Republican supporters to pitch a posh cryptocurrency funding scheme to a loyal donor throughout his first unsuccessful Home bid.
Santos and three associates claimed a rich Polish citizen wished to purchase crypto, in accordance with the Instances, however his funds have been mysteriously frozen in a checking account. They requested the donor, a rich investor himself, to create a restricted legal responsibility firm that might supposedly acquire entry to the frozen cash.
However the plan made no sense to the skeptical donor, who likened it to a “Nigerian prince” e mail rip-off designed to lure unwitting victims into transferring cash. He suspected that Santos and his colleagues may even be the targets of such a rip-off.
When the donor requested for extra data, he was instructed to first signal a nondisclosure settlement. Santos affiliate Michael LiPetri, Dominick Sartorio and one other individual’s names have been on the NDA, the Instances reported. However talks ended when the investor sought adjustments to the settlement.
LiPetri, now a lobbyist, downplayed his involvement to the Instances. Santos’ lawyer stated his shopper “solely made the introductions” between LiPetri and Sartorio’s agency.
The weird Polish crypto deal highlights how Santos intermingled political relationships and enterprise alternatives as a candidate in ways in which elevate moral crimson flags, in accordance with a overview of his early political profession by the Instances.
In July 2020, a marketing campaign contact related Santos to Blue Flame Medical, a brand new firm promoting coronavirus testing kits based by two well-connected GOP operatives. Santos signed on as a marketing consultant who may earn 10% on any deal he orchestrated, the newspaper reported.
He quickly separated from Blue Flame with out arranging any gross sales. The corporate, which did not ship on contracts, was later investigated by federal authorities however not charged.
After leaving his Florida funding agency months later amid fraud claims, Santos opened a political consulting firm together with his marketing campaign treasurer Nancy Marks and former colleagues. One of many agency’s first purchasers was Congressional candidate Tina Forte. Santos inspired her to rent his firm with out disclosing he partly owned it, her marketing campaign supervisor instructed the Instances.
The consulting agency, Purple Methods, dissolved in September 2022 after irregularities in its marketing campaign accounting. Santos’ personal marketing campaign filings confirmed questionable discrepancies round charges paid to WinRed, a donation platform, in accordance with the newspaper.
In late 2022, as his election win appeared possible, Santos coordinated a $20 million yacht sale between two donors and claimed in an interview he earned referral charges from such offers, in accordance with the Instances.
Prosecutors allege Santos then solicited $50,000 from donors for a PAC, pocketing the cash as an alternative of spending it on adverts.
Santos has been charged with 13 felonies for misrepresenting his earnings, accumulating unemployment, and siphoning funds from political supporters to his private coffers. He has pleaded not responsible.
The Instances investigation means that Santos has a penchant for blurring moral traces to complement himself via transactional relationships with deep-pocketed political supporters. Each the mysterious Polish cryptocurrency scheme and the yacht sale capitalized on Santos’ rising connections to Republican donors, whom he repeatedly handled as marks fairly than constituents.
The Polish deal additionally underscores Santos’ early curiosity within the high-risk, high-reward world of digital property.
Throughout his 2022 marketing campaign, Santos boasted false claims of working for high Wall Road corporations and attaining huge wealth by age 19 via crypto buying and selling. In actuality, data point out he lived with monetary constraints previous to getting into politics.
The outlandish resume helped Santos safe over $500,000 in loans from supporters he couldn’t repay, prosecutors allege.
Whereas the Polish crypto deal didn’t pan out, it affords an illuminating window into Santos’ enterprise instincts circa 2020. He eagerly embraced get-rich-quick schemes that capitalized on hype surrounding digital currencies, in accordance with the Instances.
And he persistently handled political supporters extra like profitable enterprise contacts than dedicated constituents. Santos’ brazen makes an attempt to complement himself have continued since taking federal workplace this yr.
The Home Ethics Committee is at present investigating Santos over potential violations of finance guidelines, disclosure necessities and different requirements of conduct. The cryptic Polish crypto deal provides yet one more knowledge level to an rising sample of moral impropriety.
Editor’s observe: This story was drafted with Decrypt AI from sources referenced within the textual content, and fact-checked by Ozawa.
Keep on high of crypto information, get every day updates in your inbox.
[ad_2]
Source link
