George Santos’ former roommate has alleged the congressman was responsible for an ATM fraud scheme. The former roommate alleged that Santos taught and provided “all the material” for the program. Santos previously told a friend he was an “informant” on the case, Politico reported. Something is loading.
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A former roommate of Rep. George Santos claims the New York congressman was ‘responsible’ for a fraudulent credit card transaction that took place in Florida, according to an affidavit that was first obtained and reported times by Politico.
The former roommate, Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, was convicted and deported to Brazil for his involvement in the scheme in 2017. His letter, dated Wednesday, was sent by his lawyer and addressed to the FBI, in the Eastern District Court of New York and the United States. Secret Service.
“Santos taught me how to browse map information and clone maps,” Trelha said in the affidavit. “He gave me all the equipment and taught me how to install skimming devices and cameras on ATMs.”
Santos attorney Joseph Murray did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the statement, Trelha met Santos around 2016 when he started renting a room at Santos’ apartment in Florida. At the time, Trelha knew Santos as Anthony Devolder. The congressman’s full name is George Anthony Devolder Santos.
It was around this time that Santos began teaching him the inner workings of an ATM and credit card system, Trelha said.
“Santos had a warehouse located on Kirkman Road in Orlando, Florida,” Trelha alleged. “He had a lot of stuff – parts, printers, blank ATMs and credit cards to paint and engrave with a stolen account and personal information. Santos gave me at his warehouse, some of the parts to go through illegally credit card information.”
The attorney who helped Trelha file the affidavit did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
When Trelha was arrested in 2017, the former roommate alleged in the statement that Santos visited him in a Seattle jail.
“He told me in jail not to say anything about him,” Trelha wrote. “Santos threatened my friends in Florida that I shouldn’t say he was my boss.”
Trelha’s statement appears to contradict Santos’ previous characterization not only of their relationship, but also of the congressman’s role in the scheme.
In an interview with Politico, Santos’ attorney friend Tiffany Bogosian said Santos told her her role in the scheme was as an “informant.”
Santos also told a Seattle judge during the Trelha hearing that the roommate was actually a “friend of the family.”
Trelha spent seven months in prison before being deported to Brazil in 2018.
“Santos didn’t help me get out of jail,” Trelha said. “He also stole the money I had collected for my bail.”
Santos’ tenure as a freshman congressman has been plagued with allegations of his elaborate lies, a GoFundMe scam and a theft charge that was dropped in 2020, among other scandals – some of which are now part of ongoing investigations.
Politico reported how Santos was charged with theft in 2017 and accused of returning checks worth thousands of dollars that were to be sent to Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania. The charge was dismissed and expunged from his case after Santos claimed his checkbook was stolen, Politico reported.