There aren’t just questions about George Santos’ personal wealth, but about his campaign finances as well. For starters, his 2022 campaign finance form originally included a $600,000 personal loan, which implies it was money taken from his personal accounts and not money given to him by donors. However, he very recently admitted to The Daily Beast that the cash wasn’t actually a personal loan … but failed to shed any light on the true source. Which means it’s possible that he has violated campaign finance laws and could wind up facing charges.
Additionally, a significant portion of the money he raised was raised through a mysterious, unregistered fund called RedStone Strategies. Because the fund, which Santos has demonstrable ties to, isn’t registered, there’s no record of its donors, contributions, or spending. Meaning, as The New York Times writes, there’s no way to know if every cent of the money went towards campaign finances as it should have.
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Finally, a glimpse at his FEC documents reveals that Santos had dozens of expenditures that came in at $199.99, just a single penny below the figure at which the FEC requires candidates to keep receipts. These charges rang up at restaurants, drugstores, and ride-sharing services, and could imply that Santos was irresponsibly spending money (aka spending it for personal reasons not at all related to his campaign) and attempting to hide it from officials. A campaign finance expert told CNN, “If in fact he did misuse campaign funds, this was a blatant effort to evade detection.”
