Liar, Liar
Quiz: Which Claims Came From George Santos, and Which Did We Make Up?
The newly minted Long Island representative is already one of the most prolific — and flat-out absurd — liars in congressional history
George Santos has only been in Congress for a few weeks, but his legacy as one of D.C.’s most prolific and compulsive liars has already been cemented.
The Long Island congressman is facing multiple criminal and ethical investigations regarding his deception of voters over the course of his run for Congress, as well as potential fraud and campaign finance violations. The Nassau County GOP has banned him from events and meetings, and a series of lawmakers and organizations have called for his resignation.
Despite a majority of New York voters, including a plurality of Republicans, believing Santos should resign, the congressman has remained steadfast in his refusal to step down. He instead seems to spend most of his time power walking down congressional hallways to avoid reporters peppering him with questions about the near-daily reports of newly uncovered exaggerations and falsehoods. Santos’ most recent response to the throng of reporters camping outside his office was to provide them with coffee and doughnuts in a half-hearted attempt at trolling.
The situation has gotten so absurd that it’s easy to lose track of the breadth of Santos’ dubious backstory. To illustrate just how ridiculous the saga has become, we made a quiz to test your bullshit-o-meter by selecting which of these unverified claims came from Santos, and which we just made up. The answers are below.
- He was valedictorian of his high school
- He was the star of a championship college volleyball team
- He was a child actor with a minor role in Hannah Montana
- He was a speaker at Anthony Scaramucci’s private equity conference
- He acted in a movie with Oscar-nominated actress Uma Thurman
- He spent a summer volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala
- He helped found a homeless shelter in Brazil
- He’s partied with fashion designer and Long Island native Michael Kors
- He knew people who died in the Pulse Nightclub shooting
- He’s a prolific real estate investor
- He was discovered by the Hollywood producer who made the film Independence Day
- His father was a Brazilian military hero
- His mother died from the after effects of ash poisoning on 9/11
- He’s the descendant of Ukrainian Holocaust survivors
- He’s related to bachata singer Romeo Santos
- He survived an assassination attempt
- He had a brain tumor
- He founded an animal rescue
- Neil Patrick Harris bought one of his properties in the Hamptons
- He was the victim of election fraud in 2020
- We made this one up. Santos did claim to have been a student at Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New York, although the school has no record of him ever being enrolled.
- The Nassau County GOP revealed that in a candidate interview Santos claimed to have been the star of a volleyball team that won a league championship while a student at Baruch College. Baruch has no record of Santos ever being a student.
- A 2011 Wikipedia page for “Anthony Devolder” (one of the many versions of Santos’ full name, “George Anthony Devolder Santos,” he has used throughout his life) stated that Santos had appeared on the Disney Shows Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
- Santos claimed to have been a panelist at the SALT private equity conference organized by former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. He claims he called out his then-employer Goldman Sachs at the conference for their investments in renewable energy. He never worked at Goldman Sachs and Scaramucci told CNN he had no record of Santos attending the conference.
- The “Anthony Devolder” Wikipedia page also stated that Santos filmed a movie with Uma Thurman. The movie he named, The Invasion, is a 2007 film that does not include Uma Thurman in the cast.
- We made this one up.
- We made this one up, although Santos did leave Brazil while there was an active case for check fraud against him.
- We made this one up.
- Santos claimed that four of his employees were killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. A review of the victims biographies by The New York Times could not identify any victims who had been employed at companies associated with Santos.
- Santos falsely claimed that he had managed a portfolio of 13 rental properties, none of which were listed on his asset disclosure forms when running for Congress. Santos later backtracked the claim.
- Another gem from the “Anthony Devolder” Wikipedia page.
- We made this one up. Surprisingly, given all the lies Santos has told about his family, not much is known about who his father was.
- Of all of Santos’ lies, this one might be the grossest. The congressman claimed his mother, working as a high-level financial executive, was in the World Trade Center the morning of the 9/11 but left before the attack and later died of cancer caused by exposure to the debris cloud. A New York Times investigation found that Fatima Devolder was not present in the United States at the time of the attack.
- Santos claimed to be a “proud American Jew” in campaign documents, and said he was the descendant of Holocaust survivors who emigrated to Brazil. A review of immigration records found he had no Jewish heritage related to the Holocaust.
- We made this one up.
- In a 2021 interview with the Brazilian outlet Rádio Novelo Apresenta, Santos claimed that he had survived an assassination attempt that resulted in him requiring police protection around his New York home. Santos has not provided additional details.
- Santos claimed to have received radiation treatment for a brain tumor “several years ago” during an interview. Reporters could find no mention of a cancer diagnosis or treatment in Santos campaign materials.
- Santos claimed to have founded the non-profit Friends of Pets United in 2013. The IRS found no record of such a charity, but disabled Navy veteran Richard Osthoff claims Santos, through his charity, swindled him out of $3,000 raised for his sick dog, who later died.
- We made this one up.
- This was actually Santos’ second run for Congress. In 2020, he lost to incumbent Democrat Thomas Suozzi. Despite losing by almost 46,000 votes, Santos claimed the election had been fraudulent and refused to concede defeat.