George Santos has yet another headache coming his way, thanks to amended filings submitted to the FEC this week.
The embattled New York congressman was already facing calls for his resignation or ouster — from both parties — before his filings with the Federal Election Commission this week. Now, those filings are becoming the source of problem after problem, each with the potential to run afoul of the law.
The latest issue flagged by reporters with ABC News on Thursday stems from filings that several fundraising committees working on behalf of the Santos 2022 campaign made with the agency specifying a change in the individual assigned as treasurer for the committees. Those committees are now listed as having their financial operations overseen by Thomas Datwyler, a longtime specialist in political campaign finances.
But there’s just one problem: Mr Datwyler adamantly told ABC News that he is not working for the Santos campaign, and in fact had informed them of that before the FEC filings were submitted: "On Monday, we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer," said Mr Datwyler's attorney Derek Ross.
"It appears that there's been a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize,” Mr Ross continued.
Confusingly, Mr Datwyler’s electronic signature remains on the documents. An attempt by The Independent to get in contact with Mr Ross to determine whether Mr Datwyler had authorised that e-signature — or whether it was added without his permission — was not immediately successful.
Mr Santos’s FEC filings had previously raised a number of other red flags.
Reporters and legal experts found themselves immediately suspicious of a high number of donations just under the $200 threshold, above which they would be subject to laws requiring donors provide their full names, addresses, occupations and employers.
There were also two loans to the campaign, one for $125,000 and another for $500,000, which were amended to no longer list Mr Santos’s personal funds as their sources.
All in all, it was a perplexing series of issues to be raised in a single FEC filing that comes after a seemingly unending avalanche of stories about the congressman’s lies and embellishments about his resume.
He still remains accused of lying about his grandparents supposedly fleeing the Holocaust, among other issues, and faces questions about a sudden surge of wealth he acquired over the past several years.
The FEC has sent a letter to the Santos campaign asking for more information on the paperwork.
The Thursday letter states that Mr Santos’s campaign “may have failed to include the true, correct, or complete treasurer information” on the documents submitted on Wednesday showing that Mr Datwyler is its new treasurer and the custodian of records.
Five separate fundraising committees received the same letter after they also sent in documents showing Mr Datwyler as their new treasurer.
The committees and the campaign have to respond before 2 March.
The FEC letter said that if they’re found to have provided a “materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” on the documents, they could face criminal charges.
