Over the years, the saying “Don’t believe everything you hear” has been a commonly repeated warning. Whether this caution appeared due to increasing fraud or heartbreaking betrayals, among other factors, cannot be proved, but one thing that is certain is that false information has been on the rise. One of the most recent and shocking cases of false information is George Santos and his resumé. For various reasons, he has acquired the nicknames “the lying representative” and “the serial liar.”

George Santos has been a United States representative since 2023 for New York’s 3rd congressional district. However, many various sources have revealed that a large portion of his biography is not true. For example, Santos claimed that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, both of which are leading global financial services. However, he never worked for these multinational companies, and instead worked for a company called Link Bridge as vice president and did business with the two big companies during that time. Santos also claimed to have been a star volleyball player when he was attending Baruch, one of the top colleges in New York and where Santos supposedly got his degree, when in reality, he did not graduate from any college. Another statement he had made during his campaign was that his mom was in the World Trade Center during the September 11 attack in 2001 and passed away. He later went on Twitter to correct that his mom survived the terrorist attacks but the event led to cancer, which took her life in 2016. NBC News later revealed evidence that Santos’s mom was not in the United States from 1999 to 2003 due to her green card being stolen.

Some controversial topics that came up throughout Santos’ campaign were religion and sexual orientation. Santos stated that his grandparents escaped the Nazis during the Holocaust and that he is Jewish. However, Santos later clarified, “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’” He has also since acknowledged that his grandparents were born in Brazil. Santos also had a large impact for being the first openly gay Republican elected to the House. Sources have revealed that while being married to a woman, Santos proposed to his teen boyfriend and planned an engagement party. Not long after, his support for anti-LGBTQ laws was revealed. Prior to his election, he was a spokesman with Carl Paladino, who, according to The New York Times, has made several “racist and homophobic comments.” In addition, in the first few weeks in Congress, Santos showed support for anti-trans laws and the demonization of drag shows. According to Vox, “Santos is also an ardent Trump supporter – so much that he was at Trump’s Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, and has repeatedly falsely claimed that the former president won the 2020 election.”

In addition to these misleading bluffs on his resumé, there have also been several financial accusations against Santos. One of the most notable ones include his alleged pocketing money from a GoFundMe. He is accused of setting up a fundraiser for a “dying service dog of a disabled homeless veteran” and then taking the $3,000 funded for himself. He has denied these allegations and has insisted that he has proof of the dogs he has helped. Another rumor that had spread was that when Santos was living in Brazil, he enjoyed drag shows and was the drag queen in Brazilian beauty pageants. Allegedly, he went by the name “Kitara Ravache.” A few Brazilian performers have come out and discussed their encounters with Santos in 2005 when he was “cross-dressing.” Santos has denied ever being a drag queen despite the newly leaked photos of him cross-dressing.

Other shocking information has been publicized. Four years ago, Santos publicly introduced himself as “Anthony Devolder.” This leads many to question whether or not George Santos is his real name. In addition, his financial funds for his campaign are currently being investigated for possible violation of campaign finance laws. According to The Hill, this is “a much graver class of misconduct that could result in civil penalties, criminal prosecution, expulsion from Congress or all three.” For his campaign, Santos received and spent $2.9 million. He also acquired an additional $705,000, supposedly from his own pockets. However, official reports reveal that in 2020, he has only earned $55,000 from LinkBridge and there was no other listed source of income. In 2022, he had a $750,000 salary from his company Devolder and had millions of dollars in his bank accounts. Little has been said about the methods in which his company gains money and his company’s estimated revenue is $48,688, which could possibly be another point that could be investigated.

After these numerous and seemingly endless lies get exposed one after another, New Yorkers are demanding that Santos resign. He has yet to falter and grant these requests of the New Yorkers. However, he will have to fight for the next two years to keep his spot as more eye-widening allegations are hurled our way.