NOT SO FABULIST: Santos financial woes pile up, threatening political career…

The controversies swirling around Rep. George Santos (R‑N.Y.) are shifting quickly from résumé lies to questionable finances, posing a much more serious threat to the embattled freshman even as he vows to remain in Congress. 

While the early cloud of scandal had focused on the ethics of Santos’s fabricated campaign biography, more serious revelations suggest the Long Island Republican might have violated campaign finance laws — a much graver class of misconduct that could result in civil penalties, criminal prosecution, expulsion from Congress or all three. 

The questions center around the hundreds of thousands of dollars Santos has loaned his campaigns from personal accounts; his sharp increase in reported wealth; an outside group that was raising funds on behalf of his campaign, without being registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC); and a host of expenses submitted by his campaign for $199.99 — one cent less than the figure requiring receipts. 

“We certainly are talking about potential FEC investigations and DOJ investigations,” said Robert Maguire, research director with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 

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