The New York Times reports that Brazilian authorities are likely to reinstate fraud charges against U.S. Representative-elect George Santos.
Authorities will file a formal request to the Justice Department to notify Santos of the allegations after confirming his location, according to Nathaly Ducoulombier, a spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor's office, according to the Times.
According to the Times, prosecutors said they will seek a "formal response" from Santos in connection with a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police dropped an investigation against him when they were unable to locate him for over a decade.
The criminal case, according to the Times, is related to a trip Santos took to a small clothing shop in Niterói, a town outside of Rio de Janeiro, where Santos used a fake name to spend around $700 out of the stolen checkbook.
The New York Republican is scheduled to start serving in the U.S. House on Tuesday, but there are questions about his questionable background.
Santos refuted allegations that he had been charged with any crimes in Brazil in an interview with the New York Post last week: "I am not a criminal here - not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn't happen."
The New York Times first reported on December 19 that Santos' biography appeared to be partially made up, and the New York Republican has since admitted to lying about parts of his resume.
Further reports verified the information in that reporting regarding Santos' college education and employment background and debunked even more of his untruths, such as the ones that left a private school in New York City because his family's real estate holdings declined and that he represented Goldman Sachs at a prestigious financial conference.
Santos admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University, as well as misrepresenting his work at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, in interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post on December 26, but stated he still wanted to serve in Congress at the time.
Two days later, CNN reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York had initiated an investigation into Santos' finances, who is being investigated for his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.
The Nassau County district attorney's office declared the same day that it was looking into Santos' fabrications.
"No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.
Santos helped Republicans achieve a narrow House majority by flipping a Democratic-held seat. And he will assume office on Tuesday.
