Lawyer says he was duped into helping Santos-linked accountant lie to the feds

An attorney who previously did work on behalf of scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos' (R-NY) campaign now says he was duped into unwittingly taking part in an effort to deceive the Federal Elections Commission.

The Daily Beast reported that attorney Derek Ross sent the FEC apology letters this week in which he rescinded prior communications with the commission, acknowledging "that he acted as an unwitting middleman, ferrying false information from his client," accountant Tom Datwyler, to help conceal Datwyler's work on behalf of Santos.

The publication notes that the "original correspondence, which Ross submitted to the FEC on Jan. 26, requested that Datwyler — a veteran political accountant whose client list boasts hundreds of GOP campaigns and political groups — be 'removed from the public record" as being linked to Santos' political committees.

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While there is no proven reason why Datwyler wanted to have his name kept off Santos' books, The Daily Beast does note that there was a stigma that came with doing work for Santos, who has been indicted on multiple felony charges and has been under a cloud of scandal ever since it was revealed that he fabricated his academic, work, and familial histories.

Brett Kappel, campaign finance lawyer at Harmon Curran, told The Daily Beast that Ross could still be in trouble with prosecutors even after coming clean about giving false information.

"Your ethical obligations to your client do not include going to prison for them for making a false statement to the FEC," said Kappel, who speculated that Ross might be forced to testify against his own client.