Santos Admitted Using 'Stolen Checks' During 2008 Visit To Brazil

In an article published by CNN’s website on January 4, reporters Anne Claire Stapleton, Julia Vargas Jones and Marcia Reverdosa explain that Santos “admitted to stealing a man’s checkbook that was in his mother’s possession to purchase clothing and shoes in 2008, according to documents obtained by CNN.” The journalists add, “The admission came in a statement Santos gave to police in 2010, according to 150 pages worth of case documents.”

Brazilian law enforcement officials, according to the CNN reporters, “suspended an investigation into Santos because they were unable to find him for nearly a decade” but announced, on January 3, that they “will reinstate fraud charges against the New York Republican.”

Stapleton, Jones and Reverdosa report that “Santos used stolen checks to make purchases at a shop in Niterói, a city outside of Rio de Janeiro on June 17, 2008, according to court documents,” adding, “When making the purchase, he used an ID card with the checkbook owner’s name and a picture of himself, according to police documents.”

Although Santos grew up in the United States, his parents were immigrants from Brazil. Santos’ grandparents also lived in Brazil, but according to the New York Times, records show that his grandparents on his mother’s side weren’t, as he claimed, Holocaust survivors who fled to Brazil from Europe to escape the Nazis — both of them, according to records examined by the Times, were born in Brazil.

Stapleton, Jones and Reverdosa report, “Brazilian authorities, having now verified Santos’ location, will make a formal request to the U.S. Justice Department to notify Santos of the charges, Maristela Pereira, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, told CNN. The prosecutor’s office told CNN the request will be filed upon reopening on Friday, (January 6).”