Serial liar George Santos was charged with theft after a $15,000 bad check in his name was written to a dog breeder in Pennsylvania in 2017 — but a new report says: He managed to get out of the case after claiming the checkbook was stolen.
The crime of stealing Politico first reportedis the latest wound in the past that has been scarred by the freshman lawmaker scandal.
Santos said in November 2017 that a series of fraudulent checks totaling $15,125 were written in his name to a dog breeder in Amish Country, Pennsylvania, with “puppy” written on some lines of the note. He was later indicted, the report said.
Days after the questionable check was issued, Santos held an adoption event at a Staten Island pet store with his animal rescue organization. From Instagram of the shop and people at the event.
A lawyer who helped Santos avoid criminal prosecution told The Post Thursday night that he claimed his checkbook was stolen by someone he knew.
Attorney Tiffany Bogosian, who first shared details of the theft with Politico, provided the Washington Post with an email she sent to the Pennsylvania State Police.
Santos asked her for help in early 2020 when the New York Police Department issued him an extradition warrant related to a theft charge in Pennsylvania, she said.
In an email to law enforcement on February 15, 2020, she informed her that Santos had received four checks, but lost one and canceled all checks associated with it. I wrote.
“When he saw that a quarter of his checkbook was missing, he immediately called the bank. At that point, all checks were canceled and all checks stopped being paid,” she said. wrote as part of the message.
“We therefore canceled all checks linked to this account so that no checks were cashed or presented against his account. It has been closed.This is for personal reasons (priority of the bank) unrelated to the suspicion of fraud against his account.”
In an email, she claimed that Santos was a victim of fraud and was unaware of it until the Pennsylvania charges surfaced.
She said Santos later went to Pennsylvania to answer the warrant, and he told her months later, during a dinner she and her legal client had with Santos, that the case had been dismissed. It struck her that he had not expressed any gratitude for her legal assistance.
“No, no, nothing,” she recalled.
The charges were dismissed on Nov. 24, 2021, a York County District Court representative told the magazine, without giving a reason why.
During dinner, Santos tried to persuade a Bogosian client to invest in Harbor City Capital, the company he worked for, but was turned down. The Washington Post reported last monthThe company was later accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being a Ponzi scheme.
Now that all the lies from Santos have come to light, Bogosian said he had no doubt that he too was a victim of his deception.
“Now I definitely feel like I used to,” she told The Post, adding. “He always had this air of suspicion around him.”
Santos is currently under investigation, including for campaign finance. Shortly before he took office, he admitted to fabricating much of his life story during his campaign and faced calls for his resignation.
