Amid mounting scrutiny, embattled Rep. George Santos of New York fiercely asserted his innocence yesterday: that he had never been involved in a credit card skimming operation in 2017 in Seattle that ended with the guilty plea and deportation of a former roommate.
The accusations against the freshman Republican came in a sworn statement from Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, who had been arrested in 2017 after using a credit card skimming device and an electronic camera on ATMs to secretly steal the numbers of users. According to his declaration, Santos had allegedly taught him how to clone ATM and credit cards and that the two had agreed to a 50-50 split of proceeds.
In response to this, Rep. Santos made it clear to Washington reporters that he had never done any criminal activity and had no part in the scenario described by Trelha.
At one point, Santos even attempted to distance himself from the former roommate, claiming he only knew him “a couple of times in his life”. This, despite appearing in court for Trelha’s bail hearing in 2017, during which Santos referred to him as a “family friend”.
When asked about providing information to federal authorities, the congressman told reporters: “I cooperated with Secret Service, FBI, everybody that asked for my help. Got information for them. Got everybody arrested and deported.” He also repeated the false statement that he had worked for Goldman Sachs, which he has since acknowledged he never did.
“Innocent of all charges,” Rep. George Santos said on Capitol Hill as his other controversies come to light. This includes his multiple fabrications about his biography and resume, for which local and federal prosecutors are now investigating, as well as a House ethics committee inquiry into his 2022 campaign for his Long Island seat.
Whether or not Santos is found guilty of any wrongdoing remains to be seen.