George Santos was allegedly involved in “Nigerian prince”-esque con

Out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was allegedly involved in what may have been a “Nigerian prince”-esque con.

The New York Times reports that about a year before he was elected to congress, Santos and three other men approached a Santos campaign donor claiming that a wealthy Polish citizen was interested in buying cryptocurrency. They reportedly claimed that the unnamed Polish citizen’s fortune had been frozen and asked the donor to create a limited liability company to access funds needed to buy the cryptocurrency.

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The donor, who spoke to the Times anonymously, said that the scheme made no sense to him and that it reminded him of the infamous “Nigerian prince” email scam. The con often involves an unsolicited email from fraudsters claiming to be foreign royalty unable to get their funds out of their country. They then ask for an investment or access to the recipient’s bank account.

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Santos reportedly partnered with former Republican state Assemblyman Michael LiPetri and Republican donor Dominick Sartorio’s company Bryant Park Associates in the scheme. According to the Times, LiPetri claimed that he was not involved in the scheme “in detail” and suggested that no deal involving the Polish citizen was struck. Santos’s lawyer said that “Mr. Santos only made the introductions. End of story,” and that he had no information about the Polish citizen’s identity.

As the Times notes, Santos has not been charged with personal use of campaign funds. But the paper describes the alleged scheme as a prime example of how he tried to use connections he made as a candidate to enrich himself. The new report goes on to detail several other previously unreported instances, including Santos’s involvement with a now-defunct medical supply company run by a Republican fundraiser; Santos’s own political consulting firm, Red Strategies USA; and the congressmember’s alleged efforts to coordinate the sale of a yacht between two of his campaign donors.

Santos, whose extensive history of lies was exposed shortly after he was elected last year, faces 13 criminal charges, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds.