DOJ and FBI should investigate Santos treasurer mystery
Washington — There is enough reason to question the existence of Rep. George Santos’s purported former treasurer Andrew Olson that the FBI and Department of Justice should expand their criminal investigation into Santos to include possible false representations to the FEC, according to a letter sent today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
CREW previously filed a complaint with the FEC outlining the reasons to believe that Olson does not exist and alleging that four political committees closely associated with Santos and unknown individuals acting as the treasurers of those committees may have made false representations to the FEC. Shortly after CREW filed the complaint, the committees changed their treasurers twice in rapid succession, and Santos made public comments about the treasurers further calling into question the truthfulness of his representations to the FEC.
“The FBI and DOJ already indicted Rep. Santos over his alleged false statements and fraudulent schemes,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “Investigating the mystery surrounding Andrew Olson–which suggests potential additional dishonesty, this time to the FEC–may help them in their investigation and prosecution of Santos.”
The DOJ charged Santos with making repeated false statements to the House on his 2020 and 2022 financial disclosures. The allegations in CREW’s complaint indicate that Santos’s political committees may have similarly made false statements to the FEC by representing that Olson–and previously Thomas Datwyler, who denied being involved–were treasurers of his committees. Santos’s actions and statements following the complaint raise further questions about whether his representations to the FEC were truthful.