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More individuals are stepping forward and implicating George Santos of taking funds indicated for animals.
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Andrea Dos Santos, a veterinary service technician, said she never ever got $2,165 indicated for a family pet shelter.
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“It was reason after reason after reason,” Dos Santos informed The New York Times.
More individuals are stepping forward to question whether Rep. George Santos truly assisted rescue 2,500 animals, or if he simply swiped money raised for animals.
The New York Times talked to a number of individuals who dealt with Santos on a charity called Friends of Pets United, which he declares he established.
The Times’ sources said they believe Santos saved far less animals than the “2400 dogs and 280 cats” that he claimed in 2020 to have actually rescued. The sources likewise said they either never ever got any money from Santos-run fundraising events or were provided a far lower quantity of money than they had actually been assured.
Andrea Dos Santos, a veterinary service technician, informed The Times that in 2017, Santos provided to help her raise funds for her farm in New Jersey. Dos Santos said she dealt with Santos to offer $50 tickets to a barbecue with live music and beverages. The follows the occasion, Dos Santos said, were indicated to go to building a brand-new shelter for mistreated animals.
Dos Santos said they raised $2,165. But she never ever got any money from Santos, who had actually managed the funds. She informed The Times she discovered it tough to get in touch with Santos after the charity event.
“It was reason after reason after reason,” Dos Santos said.
Regina Spadavecchia, who runs a Bronx animal rescue called Adore-a-Bullie Paws and Claws, informed The Times that she accepted Santos’ deal to help her raise funds in March 2017. Spadavecchia said Santos held a $5 raffle on Facebook for a supper cruise and Broadway tickets, appealing for funds for the lots dogs in Spadavecchia’s care.
Spadavecchia said Santos sent her only around $400, rather of the countless dollars he had actually assured her.
“If you’re doing fund-raising in my name, and you’re declaring you can make a number of thousand, and you’re sending me $400, then something’s off,” Ms. Spadavecchia informed the Times. “You’re either boasting about things you can’t do, or you’re keeping money on the side. I do not understand.”
Meanwhile, Monica Cunha, among Santos’ associates on Facebook, informed The Times that Santos declared he would take in dogs whose owners might not care for them. But Cunha said Santos seldom published about the dogs’ adoption procedure.
According to The Washington Post, Santos in November 2020 declared on his campaign website that he “established and ran a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) called Friends of Pets United (FOPU) from 2013 – 2018.”
A December 19 investigation from The Times exposed that Friends of Pets United was not a signed up animal rescue organization in New York.
The FBI in January likewise kicked off an investigation into whether Santos took more than $3,000 from a GoFundMe charity event indicated for a military veteran’s dog, per Politico.
Santos has actually rejected scamming the veteran, Rich Osthoff, of funds from the GoFundMe page. The congressman tweeted on January 20 that he believed reports that he would let a dog pass away were “stunning & outrageous.”
“My operate in animal advocacy was the labor of love & effort,” Santos composed.
Santos has actually confessed to lying about different aspects of his past, consisting of going to university, being Jewish, and working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Santos has refused to resign from his congressional seat regardless of these scandals, stating he will only do so if the people who voted for him in New York demand it.
Representatives for Santos did not right away react to Insider’s ask for remark.
Read the initial post on Business Insider
