A relative of scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos (R-NY) says they never made a $5,800 donation to his congressional campaign despite the fact that they were listed in official documents as having done so.
Mother Jones reports that the relative, who asked not to be identified, says they are "dumbfounded" by campaign finance reports showing that they gave Santos two separate donations that just happened to total the legal maximum for individual campaign contributions.
“It’s all news to me," the Santos relative told Mother Jones. “I don’t have that money to throw around!”
Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, tells Mother Jones that anyone funneling money to Santos' campaign under other people's names would be flat-out breaking the law.
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The publication also notes that this is far from the first instance where the nature of some of Santos' campaign donors appear to have been fabricated.
"In the previous story, Mother Jones detailed instances of suspicious donations to Santos’ 2020 campaign, which he lost by 12 points," the report notes. "The examples included maximum contributions from Victoria and Jonathan Regor, who were listed as residing at 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson Township, New Jersey. A search of various databases found no one in the United States named Victoria or Jonathan Regor. Moreover, that address does not exist, according to Google Maps and a resident who lives on that street."
