George Anthony Devolder Santos was born on July 22, 1988, and is an American politician who currently serves as the U.S. representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, a position he has held since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Santos was initially elected to Congress in 2022 after running unsuccessfully in 2020 against incumbent Thomas Suozzi.
Notably, Santos made history as the first openly LGBT member elected to Congress as a Republican. However, his political career has been marred by numerous controversies surrounding his biography, work history, criminal record, financial status, ethnicity, religion, and other matters.
Six weeks after his election, numerous news outlets reported that significant portions of his self-published biography appeared to be fabricated, including claims about his ancestry, education, employment, charity work, property ownership, and alleged crimes of which he claimed to be a victim. Santos has since admitted to lying about his education and employment.
Prior to his political career, Santos had a troubled past. In 2010, he confessed to committing check fraud in Brazil in 2008, but failed to appear in court in 2011, leaving the case unresolved. Brazilian authorities revived the case in late 2022, and on March 24, 2023, it was announced that Santos would plead guilty in that case.
Furthermore, there have been several judgments against Santos in the United States concerning eviction and personal debt cases. In 2022, he was accused of failing to pay thousands of dollars in judgments from the 2010s, to which he admitted. Additionally, Santos was charged in 2017 in the United States for theft by deception regarding bad checks to dog breeders, but the charges were dropped, and the record expunged in 2021 after the signatures on the checks did not match his.
