Disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is now accused of making threats against a reporter who broke the story that he is under investigation at the Justice Department for insider trading.
The allegation is that Santos publicly announced he would attend President Donald Trump's most recent State of the Union Address, then placed a large bet on the gambling platform Kalshi that he would not show up, and ultimately did not show up. Kalshi froze Santos's accounts after detecting suspicious trades and referred the matter to the DOJ and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which the Trump administration uses as the regulator of choice for so-called "prediction markets."
According to NPR's Bobby Allyn, while researching the story, he reached out to Santos via email for comment and received a response from a blocked number, after which things turned aggressive.
"My lawyers have been calling the Department of Justice all day, and they can't find any investigation," Santos told him.
He then refused to consent to the call being recorded, and warned Allyn that, "this story is going to get you a gun in your face" — which Allyn interpreted as a threat on his life.
Santos, who was elected to Congress in 2022, almost immediately became a lightning rod for controversy after it emerged he had fabricated his entire campaign biography, from his ethnic background to where he went to school. He then came under federal investigation for campaign finance irregularities and fraudulent use of his campaign donors' credit cards, among other financial crimes.
He was expelled from the House in a landslide bipartisan vote in late 2023.