Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was accused of stealing in a Pennsylvania case in 2017. Still, the charges were eventually dropped, and the incident was cleared from his record, according to a lawyer who assisted Santos in defending against the accusation and now regrets doing so.
“I should have let him go to hell,” that attorney, Tiffany Bogosian, told CNBC in a phone interview Thursday.
Bogosian confirmed the veracity of Politico’s recent reporting that Santos was charged with theft by deceit following several failed checks issued in his name to Pennsylvania dog breeders.
George Santos had claimed that someone had stolen his checkbook and written checks totaling thousands of dollars — including multiple that were made out for “puppies,” according to Tiffany Bogosian, who provided screenshots of the bills and corresponding bank statements.
Days after those checks were written, according to Politico, which cited the store’s Instagram account and a witness to the event, Santos hosted a pet adoption event with his ostensible pet charity, Friends of Pets United, at a pet shop in Staten Island.
George Santos’ congressional office provided CNBC with the contact information for his lawyer, who did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Take a look at the tweet
Santos is incapable of telling the truth. He is a pathological liar. From Politico: “Rep. George Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country in 2017 after bad checks were written in his name to dog breeders, according to the court and a lawyer friend.” https://t.co/gQozPpU0bj
— SusieAnnQue (@SusieAnnQue2) February 11, 2023
Bogosian asserted that the Politico report was “1,000%” accurate. According to the site, she was Santos’ middle school classmate who met him in Queens, New York, in late 2019 and got in touch with him a few weeks later when he claimed to have been served an extradition request connected to the Pennsylvania theft accusation.
George Santos revealed to her that one of his checkbooks had vanished in 2017 and that he had canceled it right away. Santos was a victim of fraud, but he hadn’t realized it until he was issued the warrant, according to Bogosian, who contacted a Pennsylvania state police trooper to explain the case.
Bogosian recalled Santos telling her that a week after their meeting in February 2020, he had been to Pennsylvania, informed the authorities that he worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission, and had been successful in getting them to dismiss the accusations.
Congresspeople introduce a resolution to throw George Santos out of Congress
George Santos is a total fraud who deceived his voters to get elected to Congress. His presence in Congress is a stain on the institution and if he will not resign then he must be removed.
Today I joined my colleagues to introduce a Resolution to expel him from Congress. pic.twitter.com/9AGcUGf0q5
— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) February 9, 2023
The Santos case in question “doesn’t exist inside the system,” a representative for the York County District Court in Pennsylvania told CNBC that she “cannot confirm” whether the allegedly expunged case ever existed or didn’t.
But Bogosian provided CNBC with a screenshot showing a November 2017 charge in Santos’ name of “THEFT BY DECEP-FALSE IMPRESSION.”
In light of the scandals, lies, and investigations that have followed Santos since shortly after he won the contest for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, she told CNBC that she no longer believes Santos’ account. He has promised to complete his two-year term in the House.
“I feel terrible; I should have just let him return to the warrant,” the lawyer said. She vowed to “do everything I can to get him into jail, and if not into jail, then out of office.”