Surprise! George Santos’s sister may have some shady dealings of her own

New questions surround the finances and living situation of dishonest gay Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) as records reveal that his sister, Tiffany Santos, is facing eviction over nearly $40,000 in allegedly unpaid rent for the New York City apartment where she and her brother recently lived.

In April 2020, during the start of COVID-19 shutdowns nationwide, New York City suspended evictions for unpaid rent. In May 2022, the owners of his sister’s apartment building terminated her lease, saying she owed tens of thousands in due rent, according to court records viewed by The Daily Beast.

Her apartment — located in Elmhurst, Queens — costs $2,050 a month, is rent-stabilized, and has housed her and two other people. To date, she allegedly owes $40,000 in unpaid rent even though, in July 2022, she received over $30,000 from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help cover the costs.

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Her alleged non-payment is especially curious considering that, in December 2022, she donated $5,000 to one of her brother’s fundraising committees and $8,700 to Michelle Bond, a failed Republican candidate for a New York U.S. House seat. In both donations, Tiffany Santos listed her address as the apartment where she now faces eviction.

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George Santos has also listed his sister’s apartment as his address on federal campaign finance loans even though his voter registration lists a different address in Whitestone, Queens.

Even weirder, George Santos’ 2022 financial disclosure forms report a net worth between $2.5 million and $11.5 million, the Beast reported, making it unclear why he would need to move in with his sister. If it turns out that he gave his sister money to then donate to his fundraising committee, it could violate campaign finance laws forbidding “straw donors,” people used to funnel a candidate’s own money to themselves.

One day before he began moving his personal items and four dogs into his sister’s Elmhurst apartment, George Santos told the New York Post that he was living with his sister at a different location in Huntington, Long Island. In reality, he moved out of the Huntington apartment in September 2022. Nevertheless, the Huntington location appears on his campaign payment records as an “apartment rental for staff.”

Campaign finance legal experts say that using donor funds to pay for personal costs, like apartment rental for themselves, could violate campaign finance and House ethics rules.

The Daily Beast also reported that Tiffany Santos received “tens of thousands of dollars in payments between February 2021 and February 2022 from a New York State political action committee called Rise NY Political Action Committee (PAC), which shared her brother’s campaign treasurer and several of his donors and vendors.” On some of her federal donation forms, she listed her occupation as the PAC’s “president.”

George Santos himself has also faced evictions from New York apartments in 2015 and 2017, The New York Times reported. In 2021, he published a tweet demanding New York City lift its eviction moratorium. He said it unfairly helped renters and harmed landlords, especially since it deprived his family of rent on the 13 properties they owned. He has since admitted that his family didn’t own 13 properties.

Will we landlords ever be able to take back possession of our property? My family and I nearing a 1 year anniversary of not receiving rent on 13 properties!!! The state is collecting their tax, yet we get 0 help from the government. We worked hard to acquire these assets…

— George Santos (@Santos4Congress) February 9, 2021

He has also admitted that he lied about graduating from Baruch College and New York University, working directly for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and living at a fake address in his congressional district. He provided no additional proof to back up claims that he founded a charity called Friends of Pets, that he attended the Horace Mann prep school, that his grandparents escaped the Holocaust, that his mom died due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and that he lost four employees in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.

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In the past, he admitted to fraudulently cashing checks in Brazil, but he has since denied it, even though Brazilian authorities have re-opened their investigation into the alleged fraud.

Even though he has said he’s married to a man, he was photographed on Tuesday on the House floor without a wedding ring, and the media has found no public documents verifying their marriage.

Santos — and his questionable history and campaign finances — are currently under investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly (R), Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz (D) and the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.

George Santos said he moved out of his sister’s place to a new apartment in north Queens on Monday. He also told the Daily Beast that he may cancel his voter registration, which would “help conceal his place of residence from the press.” New York election law requires all candidates on the ballot to be registered to vote with their party. Still, he has reportedly told local Republican Party officials that he won’t seek re-election.

Considering his past falsehoods, there’s no reason to think he told party officials the truth about his plans.

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