Busy Day in Congress

It appears that Brazilian prosecutors have reopened the fraud case against just-sworn-in Congressman George Santos.

They had dropped the case because they could not find him after he left Brazil, but now they know where he is, First St SE, Washington, DC 20004.

I am amused.

When Representative-elect George Santos takes his seat in Congress on Tuesday, he will do so under the shadow of active investigations by federal and local prosecutors into potential criminal activity during his two congressional campaigns.

But an older criminal case may be more pressing: Brazilian law enforcement authorities intend to revive fraud charges against Mr. Santos, and will seek his formal response, prosecutors said on Monday.

The matter, which stemmed from an incident in 2008 regarding a stolen checkbook, had been suspended for the better part of a decade because the police were unable to locate him.

A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office said that with Mr. Santos’s whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him.

The criminal case in Brazil was first disclosed in a New York Times investigation that uncovered broad discrepancies in his résumé and questions about his financial dealings.

Just a month before his 20th birthday, Mr. Santos entered a small clothing store in the Brazilian city of Niterói outside Rio de Janeiro. He spent nearly $700 using a stolen checkbook and a false name, court records show.

………

Mr. Santos’s swearing-in on Tuesday as the representative of New York’s Third Congressional District was already set to take place amid a cloud of scrutiny.

Last week, irregularities in Mr. Santos’s campaign spending emerged, including $40,000 on flights and payments for rent that are linked to an address where Mr. Santos is reported to be staying, a possible violation of the ban on using campaign funds for personal expenses.

Mr. Santos also lied about graduating from college and had misled voters about having worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He also acknowledged owing thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, and withdrew his claim that he owned multiple properties.

The next step for Brazilian prosecutors is to file a petition when the courts reopen at the end of the week requesting that Mr. Santos respond to the charges against him. A judge would then share the request, called a rogatory letter, with the federal Justice Ministry in Brazil, which would share it with the U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the Justice Department nor Brazilian authorities can compel Mr. Santos to respond at this point. But Mr. Santos must be officially notified in order for the case to proceed.

It strikes me that Congress is the last place that a law-breaker should set up shop if they want to lay low.

As an FYI, Brazil does have an extradition treaty with the United States, which has been in force since 1965, but if George Santos is a US citizen, he might not be subject to extradition. (If he were born in Queens as he has stated at times, he would not be subject to extradition under the treaty, and if he were born in Brazil, as he has claimed at times, he might be.)