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() — Rep.-elect George Santos made more false claims about his family history, employment history and education at campaign appearances over the years, a review of statements made in two of his campaigns for Congress found.
‘s KFile uncovered more falsehoods from Santos, including claims that he was forced to drop out of a New York City private school when his family’s real estate assets hit a recession and the claim that he represented Goldman Sachs at a major conference. where he rebuked the company for investing in renewable energy.
also inquired more about other statements by Santos about his family’s background. In an interview, Santos said his mother’s historical Jewish family name was “Zabrovsky,” and later appeared to operate a GoFundMe campaign for a pet charity (which he falsely claimed was a non-profit organization). under that alias). Genealogists previously spoke to found no evidence of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage in his family tree.
At another point, he said his mother, whose family has lived in Brazil since the late 19th century, was a white immigrant from Belgium.
Santos’ campaign did not respond to ‘s request for comment.
Ever since reports of his false claims first surfaced, Santos has taken pains to downplay his fabrications as mere “decoration.” But Santos’s claims illustrate a pattern of fabricating details about his life, often in the service of presenting a more compelling or interesting personal narrative. The Nassau County district attorney’s office said Wednesday that it is investigating Santos’ fabrications, though it did not specify the falsehoods it would explore.
In interviews in recent days, Santos admitted to lying about parts of his resume, including college graduation, but told The New York Post that misrepresenting his employment history at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup was a “bad choice.” of words”. There is no record of him having worked in the country’s main financial institutions, as he had previously claimed.
Santos also denied calling himself a Jew, a false claim, claiming he “never claimed to be a Jew” but jokingly told The New York Post that he was “like a Jew.” He also falsely claimed that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” and fled Europe to escape Jewish persecution. But found that Santos called himself an “American Jew” and a “Latino Jew” on multiple occasions. The Republican Jewish Coalition disinvited Santos from appearing at any of its events because it “misrepresented his heritage.”
Despite the scandals, the New York Republican, who won his Long Island seat, said he would take office in January, prompting calls to resign from Democrats.
Here are some of the outright untruths about George Santos found by :
He went to fancy high school, but had to drop out because his family’s real estate imploded.
In appearances, and in an old campaign biography, Santos claimed his parents sent him to Horace Mann, an elite private school in the Bronx.
“He started Horace Mann High School in the Bronx, however, he did not graduate from Horace Mann due to his family’s financial difficulties,” his 2019 biography read for his first congressional campaign that Santos lost.
Santos also made the same claim in a 2020 YouTube show appearance.
“They sent me to a good high school, which was Horace Mann Prep in the Bronx. And, in my last year of high school, my parents unfortunately fell on hard times, something that would later be known as the depression of 2008. But it hit us a little early with excessive real estate leverage. And the market began to implode. Um, and the first thing to go was high school. You know, you can’t afford $2,500 tuition right now, right? So anyway, I dropped out of school, uh, four months before graduation.”
But the claim is false, according to the school.
“We have searched the records and there is no evidence that George Santos (or any other alias) assisted Horace Mann,” Ed Adler, a spokesman for the school, told .
He claimed he criticized Goldman Sachs at a private equity conference as an employee
“Have you ever heard of a Goldman Sachs employee who took the stage at the world’s largest private equity conference, SALT, led by Anthony Scaramucci, and berated his employer? Well, I did that,” Santos said on a local podcast this summer. “And I did it in the fashion of renewable energy and global warming. This was the panel he was on. And everyone is talking about solar, wind, and this was, what, seven years ago? And I said, you know what, this is a scam. It is taxpayer money that subsidizes it.”
The claim is entirely fictitious, according to Goldman Sachs, which has said Santos never worked there, and Scaramucci, who runs the conference.
Scaramucci told in a message that not only is there no record of his appearance on a panel, but there is also no evidence that Santos attended the conference.
Said his family’s Jewish name was Zabrovsky (and raised funds with it)
In an appearance on a Fox News digital show in February, Santos said his maternal grandparents changed his Jewish last name, which was Zabrovsky, a claim that is contradicted by no evidence and records.
“We do not carry the Ukrainian surname. For many people who are descendants of World War II refugees or Holocaust survivors, many names and paperwork were changed in the name of survival. So I don’t carry the family name that would have been Zabrovsky. I carry my mother’s maiden name, which is the Dutch side of the family.”
Megan Smolenyak, an author and professional genealogist who helped research Santos’ family tree at ‘s request, told : “There are no signs of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of name changes in the family’s history.”
Santos deleted his old private Facebook account last week, but ‘s KFile reviewed records indicating he used the alias “Anthony Zabrovsky” to raise money for a pet charity. The GoFundMe page under that alias no longer exists. reached out to GoFundMe but did not hear back.
Santos affirmed that his mother emigrated from Belgium
In a December 2020 radio appearance, Santos falsely claimed that his mother “fled socialism” in Europe and moved to the United States.
“My father fled from socialism in Brazil. My mother fled socialism in Europe, and they came here and started a family. And today they can be proud to have a son who is a well-accomplished businessman, now running for the United States Congress. That is something that was not in the cards for my family,” Santos said.
He also stated in another 2020 interview that he “grew up with a white Caucasian mother, an immigrant from Belgium.”
But Santos’ mother was born in Brazil, according to genealogical records.
