A former roommate of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has accused the Republican on Wednesday of being a ringleader in a credit card fraud scheme in 2017.
The accusation, part of a sworn declaration sent to federal officials by Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha and first reported by Politico, names the congressional fibber as the one “in charge of the crime” of the scheme in Seattle.
Trelha, in the declaration, confirmed he knew Santos as Anthony Devolder. He said Santos, who he lived with in Florida, taught him how to skim card information and how to clone cards, as well.
“He gave me all the materials and taught me how to put skimming devices and cameras on ATM machines,” Trelha said.
He said elsewhere in his declaration that Santos had a warehouse in Orlando, Florida that stored “a lot of material” including “parts, printers, blank ATM and credit cards.”
Trelha was also reportedly found taking a skimming device off in Seattle.
Trelha was convicted of the fraud and served three months in prison before being deported to Brazil in early 2018, Politico noted. He said Santos stole money, as well, that he collected for his bail.
The outlet previously reported that Santos lied to a Seattle judge about working for Goldman Sachs.
The report comes after the House Ethics Committee launched a probe into Santos last week, an investigation that joins a number of others into Santos.
Santos, in response to the story, slammed Politico’s reporting in a tweet on Thursday night.
“With everyone asking I’ll give a simple answer. The newest insanity published by politico is categorically false,” Santos wrote.
“Any news organization willing to do good Journalism I’ll entertain sitting down with you and go over it all. Be well and stay safe all.”