Santos swept into the House of Representatives in 2022, helping the Republicans grab a tiny majority, but it quickly emerged that almost his entire backstory was a fabrication, from his education and religion to his personal history and professional experience.
His bizarre biographical fabrications included claiming to have worked for Goldman Sachs, being Jewish and having been a college volleyball star.
He was ultimately doomed by a congressional ethics investigation that found “overwhelming evidence” of misconduct and accused him of seeking to “fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy.”
Santos became only the third person to be ejected as a US lawmaker since the Civil War, a rebuke previously reserved for traitors and convicted criminals.
He was initially indicted on 13 charges in May 2023, before 10 more counts were added in October.
In February, voters in his suburban New York district picked Democrat Tom Suozzi to replace him.
Discussion about this post