George Santos Could be on Hook For Wire Fraud, Ex-U.S. Attorney Says

The controversy surrounding Representative-elect George Santos is continuing to snowball as new admissions have emerged from the New York Republican himself that he did lie about parts of his resume during his campaign.

Although Santos contends he hasn't committed any crimes in doing so, some legal analysts say the list of potential charges he could face goes beyond false statements about his financial disclosure; the congressman-elect could be also charged with wire fraud.

"He—not just embellished but—outright lied on his resume to attract not only voters, but donors," former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade told MSNBC on Tuesday. "That could be a scheme or artifice to defraud by which he used wire transmissions, a website."

Last week, The New York Times reported key parts of Santos' biography were misrepresented or fabricated.

Santos, who was elected to Congress last month, has since admitted that he never worked for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs, as he had previously suggested, and that he never graduated from college, despite claiming he has degrees from Baruch College and New York University.

"I'm not going to make excuses for this, but a lot of people overstate in their resumes, or twist a little bit...I'm not saying I'm not guilty of that," Santos told WABC this week.

But the congressman-elect maintained that, despite those revelations, "I am not a criminal. Not here, not abroad, in any jurisdiction in the world have I ever committed any crimes."

His admissions have been met with widespread criticisms from Democrats, who have called for Santos to be expelled from Congress. But House GOP leadership, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have remained silent on the developments surrounding Santos, whose win on Long Island helped Republicans clinch control of the House in the midterm elections.

"George Santos represents more than an individual case for American democracy. If he's allowed to serve there will be more who seek office up and down the ballot who will believe that they can completely fabricate credentials, personal features and accomplishments to win office," Representative Joaquin Castro tweeted on Monday.

"George Santos should resign as Congressman-elect," Castro said. "If he refuses, Congress should expel him. He should also be investigated by authorities."

On Tuesday, McQuade said while prosecutors may be reluctant to interfere because Santos was duly elected by constituents in his district, "making false statements in financial disclosures about one's wealth, source of wealth can be a crime."

"Just because you can charge, should you charge someone with a crime?" she asked. "It's dicey in a situation where people have elected someone, but if they elected their representative on the basis of fraud, a lie—they believed him to be someone he was not—then perhaps criminal charges are in the best interest of the public."

Newsweek reached out to Santos for comment.