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George Santos admits lying about job and education

Gay congressman-elect divorced woman in 2019.

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George Santos (Middle) appearing with Martha MacCallum on FOX News 'The Story' November 2022 (Santos/Campaign Facebook)

The headline from Monday’s New York Post read “Liar Rep.-elect George Santos admits fabricating key details of his bio,” and in the accompanying article he admits that he deceived voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional District regarding his work history and education.

Santos admitted that he had not graduated from any institution of higher learning or worked directly for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs — claims the congressman-elect repeatedly made on the campaign trail.

Santos did not address other questions or discrepancies about his life and career, insisting that he is “not a criminal” and pledging to assume office as planned when the new Congress is seated after the new year.

Santos, who ran as an openly gay candidate in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, beat another openly gay candidate, Robert Zimmerman in a first-of-its kind House race in the Empire State.

New York’s 3rf Congressional district encompasses northwestern Suffolk County and northern Nassau County on Long Island and the northeast neighborhoods in Queens.

Santos has been embroiled in a pile-on of negative revelations as journalists continue to dig deeper into his professional and personal biography that he ran on. The controversy escalated after the New York Times published an article accusing Santos of lying about several aspects of his past, including his education and work history.

Speaking with New York Post reporters Victor Nava and Carl Campanile, Santos said:

“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.”

Santos confessed he had “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, chalking that fib up to a “poor choice of words.”

The 34-year-old now claims instead that a company called Link Bridge, where he worked as a vice president, did business with both of the financial giants.  

“I will be clearer about that. It was stated poorly,” Santos said of the lie. 

At Link Bridge, Santos said, he helped make “capital introductions” between clients and investors, and Goldman Sachs and Citigroup were “LPS,  Limited Partnerships” that his company dealt with.

He also admitted that he never graduated from any college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from Baruch College in 2010.

One of the issues that angered New York’s Jewish populace was his claims to Jewish ancestry and the lies about his grandparents surviving the Nazi Holocaust prior to and during World War II.

The Long Island Press and New York City-based The Forward, formerly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, reported that in his online biography, Santos claims that his grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, and then in Belgium during World War II to avoid the Holocaust. The Forward investigated these claims and found that Santos’ grandparents were born in Brazil and seem to be Catholic.

Nassau County Legislator Joshua A. Lafazan (D – Woodbury) from the Nassau County Legislature denounce the alleged falsehoods about Santos’ claims of Jewish heritage, labeling the falsified biography as antisemitic to lie about having ancestors who survived the Holocaust.

“After multiple days of continued breaking news regarding Congressman-elect George Santos’ fraudulent past, it is now being nationally reported that he lied regarding his grandparents fleeing the Holocaust,” Lafazan said. “Exploiting the murder of 6 million Jews to win an election is arguably one of his most egregious acts yet. He must resign his election to the United States Congress immediately.”

Santos told the Post that he’s “clearly Catholic,” but claimed his grandmother told stories about being Jewish and later converting to Catholicism.

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was `Jew-ish.’”

At issue was also his sexual orientation after the Daily Beast discovered that he had been married to a woman whom he divorced the year prior to his first race in 2020 for Congress.

Santos had previously stated he had long been confident about his sexuality. In October, he told USA Today that he had not had any issue with his sexual identity over the last decade.

Daily Beast article released this past Thursday revealed that Queens County court records show that Santos, who has claimed to be openly gay, divorced from a woman named Uadla Santos in 2019.

Queens New York media outlet QNS was able to confirm with the Queens County Court that George and Uadla Santos got divorced in September 2019.

Santos confirmed to the Post on Monday that he was indeed married to a woman for about five years, from 2012 until his divorce in 2019, but insisted that he is now a happily married gay man.

“I dated women in the past. I married a woman. It’s personal stuff,” Santos said, adding that the relationship “got a little toxic.”

“I’m very much gay,” he says now. “I’m OK with my sexuality. People change. I’m one of those people who change.”

Santos however did not address the lies he made during an interview with a Florida radio station that a company he owned and conducted business in Brevard County, Fla., had four employees murdered in the mass-shooting on June 12, 2016, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

From WKMG News 6 Orlando, mother of Pulse victim calls N.Y. congressman-elect’s claims a lie:

The Orlando station and Talking Points Memo both revealed that Santos had recently re-registered a company in Florida, listing a Merritt Island address in Brevard County.

The Post also addressed the $11 million in assets reported in his financial disclosure report filed last September. Santos claimed those are tied to his Devolder consulting firm.

“All of my finances come from the firm. The assets are the contracts with the firm,” he told The Post.

The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James is looking into issues with the 2022 congressional campaign run by Santos the Washington Blade’s White House reporter has learned.

This week’s reporting on Santos yielded calls for the congressman-elect to be investigated by U.S. Attorney’s office in New York, the Federal Election Commission, Congressional House Ethics officials, and other legal actors.

On Thursday, the James’ office did not confirm whether it had formally begun an investigation.

In a published account Christmas Eve in the Post, and in several phone calls Saturday with the Los Angeles Blade, sources knowledgeable confirmed U.S. House Republican leadership’s awareness of the deceptive political and personal résumé of the Congressman-elect.

Sources also noted that the topic became a “running joke” within the party’s congressional leadership.

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Congress

Top Congressional Democrats reintroduce Equality Act on Trump’s 100th day in office

Legislation would codify federal LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections

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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Democratic members reintroduce the Equality Act, April 29 2025 (Washington Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

In a unified display of support for LGBTQ rights on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, congressional Democrats, including leadership from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday.

The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, codifying these protections into federal law in areas from jury service to housing and employment, faces an unlikely path to passage amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress along with the White House.

Speaking at a press conference on the grass across the drive from the Senate steps were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), who is the first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (N.H.), who is gay and is running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.).

Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (Del.), who is the first transgender member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.), and representatives from LGBTQ advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.

Responding to a question from the Washington Blade on the decision to reintroduce the bill as Trump marks the hundredth day of his second term, Takano said, “I don’t know that there was a conscious decision,” but “it’s a beautiful day to stand up for equality. And, you know, I think the president is clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, ‘we didn’t vote for this.'”

A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating in decline amid signs of major opposition to his agenda.

“Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it’s a great day to remind them what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union. This is the march for a more perfect union. That’s what most Americans believe in. And it’s a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is.”

Merkley, when asked about the prospect of getting enough Republicans on board with the Equality Act to pass the measure, noted that, “If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts, you can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty, you can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing, and so we’re going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.”

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which was sponsored by Merkley, was passed by the Senate in 2013 but languished in the House. The bill was ultimately broadened to become the Equality Act.

“As Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always taught me,” Takano added, “public sentiment is everything. Now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because, really, the Congress is a reflection of the people.”

“While we’re in a different place right this minute” compared to 2019 and 2021 when the Equality Act was passed by the House, Pelosi said she believes “there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in” and lobby the Senate to convince members of the need to enshrine federal anti-discrimination protections into law “so that people can fully participate.”

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Politics

George Santos sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud case

Judge: ‘You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.’

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Former U.S. Rep. George Santos (Washington Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

Disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. 

“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”

The first openly gay GOP member of Congress, Santos became a laughing stock after revelations came to light about his extensive history of fabricating and exaggerating details about his life and career.

His colleagues voted in December 2023 to expel him from Congress. An investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that Santos had used pilfered campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, designer fashion, and OnlyFans.

Federal prosecutors, however, found evidence that “Mr. Santos stole from donors, used his campaign account for personal purchases, inflated his fund-raising numbers, lied about his wealth on congressional documents and committed unemployment fraud,” per the New York Times.

The former congressman told the paper this week that he would not ask for a pardon. Despite Santos’s loyalty to President Donald Trump, the president has made no indication that he would intervene in his legal troubles.

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Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker

Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation

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Andry Hernández Romero (photo credit: Immigrant Defenders Law Center)

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.

The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.

The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”

Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.

“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.

The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”

“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador in 2023. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy of El Salvador’s Facebook page)

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.

“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.

Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.

Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.

“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

President Donald Trump greets Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House on April 14, 2025. (Public domain photo)

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.

“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”

The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.

“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.

The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.

“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”

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