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New York Democrats want House ethics investigation into George Santos

A pair of New York lawmakers on Tuesday formally asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., (pictured) accusing the newly-elected congressman of violating federal ethics laws. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI
1 of 3 | A pair of New York lawmakers on Tuesday formally asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., (pictured) accusing the newly-elected congressman of violating federal ethics laws. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A pair of New York lawmakers on Tuesday formally asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., accusing the newly elected congressman of violating federal ethics laws.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., delivered the written request, which was co-written by Rep. Dan Goldman, a fellow New York Democrat.

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"Dan Goldman and I are filing a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee against George Santos for violating the Ethics in Government Act," Torres tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

"Santos must be held accountable for defrauding both Congress and the public."

CBS also published a video of the two lawmakers delivering a copy of the complaint to Santos' office.

"Mr. Santos's financial disclosure reports in 2020 and 2022 are sparse and perplexing. At a minimum, it is apparent that he did not file timely disclosure reports for his most recent campaign. Moreover, his own public statements have contradicted some information included in the 2022 financial disclosure and confirmed that the 2022 financial disclosure failed to disclose other required information," Torres said in a statement.

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Santos was elected to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives during the 2022 midterm elections. Since then, several falsehoods in Santos' campaign have been revealed, including misleading statements about his education, work and family history.

In their letter, Goldman and Torres contend Santos failed "to file timely, accurate, and complete financial disclosure reports as required by law."

Goldman wrote on Twitter the complaint was the "first step" towards holding Santos accountable.

"Given the revelations about his biography, as well as the public information pertaining to his financial disclosures, Mr. Santos has failed to uphold the integrity expected of members of the House of Representatives," the two wrote in the letter, addressed to Rep. Michael Guest, R-N.J., and Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., who lead the committee.

Santos has been under fire since admitting in December that he never graduated from university, let alone from New York's Baruch College as he claimed, nor did he work for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as he had said.

The 34-year-old has admitted and apologized for the false information.

The first-term congressman also lied about his background when he said his grandparents ​​"fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII."

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The ethics complaint comes a day after a nonprofit government watchdog filed a separate complaint against Santos and his campaign for concealing the sources of $705,000 in campaign contributions. The Campaign Legal Center accused Devolder-Santos for Congress of engaging in a straw donor scheme in an effort to evade campaign finance contribution limits.

The center accuses Santos of contributing $705,000 to his campaign, despite reporting only having $55,000 in his 2020 financial disclosure.

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