Santos Was Caught On Tape Lying To Seattle Judge In 2017 Criminal Case

@next2godwin
George Santos

Rep. George Santos

Serial fabulist Rep. George Santos (R-NY) reportedly lied to a Seattle judge about working at Goldman Sachs during a 2017 bail hearing for a "family friend" arrested over an ATM skimming spree, Politico reported Friday.

Santos appeared before King County Superior Court Judge Sean O'Donnell during the May 2017 arraignment of defendant Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha. Prosecutors had accused Trelha of "sophisticated" fraud for breaching almost 300 accounts in a three-day ATM skimming spree in Seattle, according to reporting by Politico and CBS News.

The future member of Congress uttered the falsehood in court after Trelha's public defender, Virginia Branham, introduced Santos — who was using his full name, George Anthony Devolder Santos, at the time — to O'Donnell, who immediately set about confirming his identity.

“So what do you do for work?” O'Donnell asked.

“I am an aspiring politician, and I work for Goldman Sachs,” Santos replied.

“You work for Goldman Sachs in New York?” O'Donnell probed, to which Santos responded, "Yup," one of many falsehoods the Long Island Republican peddled on his path to the People's House.

However, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, Abbey Collins, later told the New York Times, for its investigation into Santos' background, that there were no records of the newly-elected congressman ever working for the Wall Street firm. Citigroup, another marquee financial titan Santos said had employed him, also told the Times that it had no records of Santos ever working there.

“How do you know this man?” the judge asked, referring to Trelha.

“We’re family friends. Our parents know each other from Brazil,” Santos said in reply — a claim that Trelha, who was deported to Brazil after seven months behind bars in the U.S. for fraud, refuted in a phone call with Politico.

"Trelha said Santos lied about their relationship, too. Trelha, through a translator, said he met Santos in the fall of 2016 on a Facebook group for Brazilians living in Orlando, Florida, and that his mother died in 2012," the publication noted in its report Friday.

Santos is facing federal, state, and international investigations into his deceptions, and the congressman has so far resisted bipartisan calls for his resignation.

Numerous reports have covered the New York Third congressional district representative's fabulism, comprising falsehoods about everything from his education, work, and religion to his athletic ability.

In a cringy interview with British TV host Piers Morgan last Monday, Santos admitted he had been "a terrible liar" about myriad facets of his biography, fueling his 2022 campaign with falsehoods.

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