USA
Scandal politician George Santos collected donations for the dying dog – and kept the money himself
George Santos first set up a virtual fundraiser for a seriously ill pit bull. However, the income never reached the dog owner (archive image).
© Wade Vandervort/AFP
After the known lies of US Congressman George Santos, another suspicion about him has come to light for a change. He is said to have misappropriated money from a charity pot.
In fact, all the revelations about US Congressman George Santos sound so far-fetched that they can’t possibly be true. But so far they have all been confirmed. Another chapter follows, dealing with misappropriated donations.
But first things first: The 34-year-old was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the congressional elections in November. The New York Times then took a close look at Santos’ resume. For example, he claimed to have been an “experienced investor on Wall Street.” However, when asked by the newspaper, alleged employers said Santos had never been employed by them.
The newspaper was also unable to verify his university degree. Santos has also been accused of misleading the public about his family history and alleged Jewish background. The New York prosecutor’s office then began an investigation in December. In an interview, the Republican admitted that he had “whitewashed” his resume.
George Santos set up a donation page on “GoFundMe”.
Now it has come to light that Santos is said to have misappropriated donations to which he was not entitled. It all started with former US soldier Rich Osthoff, whose dog became seriously ill. A tumor was detected in Pitbull Sapphire in 2015, as Osthoff reported in an interview with CNN. At the time, Osthoffs turned to his friend Michael Boll, who in turn put George Santos in touch through another acquaintance. Apparently a good contact person: Santos was known to have often helped with animal rescues.
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Initially, the contact seemed to be positive: Santos set up a virtual fundraiser for the pit bull and collected almost $3,000, as summarized by CNN. But now the difficulties begin. According to Osthoff, Santos became “uncooperative” relatively quickly. Santos initially wanted to choose a veterinary clinic himself and later claimed that this clinic would not accept his means of payment.
Suddenly radio silence
Osthoff then became suspicious and various text messages, quoted by CNN, went back and forth between the two. When Osthoff finally asked for the last time where “my donation income” had gone, he received no further answer from Santos.
The fundraising operator “GoFundMe” confirmed to CNN that such a call took place and that the initiator was asked to give an account of the use of the money. When this did not happen, the call was stopped.
As the local news portal Patch reports, there was one last direct phone call between Osthoff and Santos. In this, Osthoff found out that Santos bequeathed the donation to another charity to use it “for other dogs”. However, it is unclear whether this has happened in the meantime or which specific organization was considered.