George Santos.Photo: Sipa via AP Images
A disabled veteran claims thatGeorge Santos— the new Republican congressman who is under investigation after admitting he lied about large portions of his resume — purportedly bilked him out of $3,000 meant to go toward life-saving care for his dog.
According to Osthoff, Santos set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for Sapphire, but once the funds reached $3,000, he seemingly disappeared.
Sapphire’s tumor grew, and she had to be euthanized, with Osthoff resorting to panhandling to pay for her euthanasia and cremation, he told Patch. “It was one of the most degrading things I ever had to do,” he said.
Osthoff, who told Patch he suffered from PTSD, said that Sapphire “never left my side in 10 years. I went through two bouts of seriously considering suicide, but thinking about leaving her without me saved my life. I loved that dog so much, I inhaled her last breaths when I had her euthanized.”
In text messages shared to the outlet, Santos tells Osthoff that his charity is “audited like every 501c3 and we are with the highest standards of integrity,” and that Sapphire might not be a candidate for the surgery, in which case funds would be “moved to the next animal in need.”
But asThe New York Timesreported earlier this month, it’s unclear that Santos' charity was audited — or that it was even a charity at all.
The group that threw the 2017 fundraiser with Santos' supposed charity also told theTimesit never received any funds raised at the event, despite Santos charging $50 a head for entry.
Santos has admitted to a number of lies in recent weeks following theTimes' reporting.
While he previously told Republican officials he was a “star” volleyball player at Baruch college who later obtained an MBA at New York University, Santos has admitted he didn’t go to college at all.
On Twitter, he has previously said he owned “13 properties” — another lie to which Santos now freely admits.
“George Santos does not own any properties,” Santos said of himself to theNew YorkPost, when asked about the claims.
TheTimesreports that Santos' family frequently struggled to pay rent in Queens over the years, and borrowed thousands of dollars from an acquaintance who claimed they were never repaid. Santos' landlord, Nancy Pothos,told CBSthat the lawmaker moved out in August 2022, just months before being elected.
Santos has also previously claimed he worked at as an associate asset manager at Citigroup from February 2011 to January 2014, and as a project manager at Goldman Sachs where, according to his resume, he was responsible for “2X revenue growth (300M to 600M)” in roughly seven months. Neither company has a record of him working there.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
Questions about Santos' history persist.
In 2020, when he launched his first run for the House, he stated in a financial disclosure that he had no assets and no earned income. But during his second run for the House in 2022, Federal Election Commission filings showing he lent at least $700,000 to his campaign, and $27,000 to his political action committee. In campaign documents, Santos further claims to have earned millions of dollars in 2021 and 2022 — from a business he launched in May 2021.
Late last month, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced itwas looking into Santosand reports surfaced thatfederal investigatorshad also opened an inquiry into Santos' financial disclosures.
source: people.com
