Did Santos’ use a variation of a ‘Nigerian prince’ scam?

One of the first cons to flourish on the Internet, the “Nigerian prince” scam, has evolved in the digital age. Many people remember receiving emails, faxes or calls from someone claiming to be wealthy who needs to get a huge sum of money out of their country. They plead for help in return for a sizable share of the treasure.

For freshman Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos, the ploy reportedly lives on. On May 10, Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 charges that he stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits, lied to Congress about being a millionaire, and misleading his campaign donors. The New York Times reported that one of his more bizarre schemes closely parallels the Nigerian prince email, but instead involves cryptocurrency, digital money that doesn’t require a bank or financial institution to verify transactions. These funds can be used for purchases or as an investment.

Santos is accused of trying to broker a bogus transaction while running for Congress in 2020. He and three associates allegedly claimed that a wealthy Polish citizen wanted to buy cryptocurrency, but his funds were mysteriously frozen in a bank account. 

They asked a donor, a wealthy investor, to create a limited liability company that could supposedly gain access to the frozen money. When the donor asked for more information, he was instructed to sign a nondisclosure agreement. The names of Santos’ associates, Michael LiPetri, Dominick Sartorio and another person, were on the NDA, but the deal came to an end when the investor sought changes to the agreement, suspecting that Santos and his colleagues were falling victim to the scam themselves. 

The bizarre Polish crypto deal highlighted Santos’ tendency to intertwine his political relationships with business opportunities. 

Groups aiming to hold Santos accountable for his falsehoods and alleged misconduct are plentiful, and they include an anonymous Twitter account, PatriotTakes, which claims to “combat right-wing threats” to democracy. The account recently addressed a clip of Santos expressing frustration over an increase in criminal activity in his 3rd Congressional District. In the clip, Santos says that criminals in New York City also target Long Island’s affluent North Shore. 

“We need to fight crime, not just in New York City — around the country.” Santos says. “It affects all of us. It affects my district most, because that’s where they go. Criminals come to New York, and they hear about the North Shore of Long Island. That’s the next step they make, and they burglarize your homes, they steal your cars. They hold you at gunpoint. They empty your closet.”

Santos goes on to say that many of his constituents have had expensive clothes stolen from their homes, that the thieves “are not common” and that they have “an eye for nice clothing.”

“It’s amazing — they don’t steal money anymore, or wallets,” Santos says. “They want your Hermes bag. They want your Gucci shoes; they want your jewelry, your watches. It’s amazing what they’re doing.”

PatriotTakes reminded its audience about allegations by Santos’ former housemate of stolen luxury-brand clothing After stories began to emerge detailing Santos’ alleged transgressions, Gregory Morey-Parker came forward and claimed that Santos had stolen a Burberry scarf that Morey-Parker had been given in early 2021. Morey-Parker claimed to be “100 percent’ certain that Santos had taken the scarf and worn it to give a speech in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, in support of then President Donald Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud.

In recent weeks, Republicans at both the local and national level have said they would not support Santos’ bid for re-election. Queerty, an online magazine and newspaper covering gay and LGBTQ entertainment and news, reported that Santos “has increasingly been sniping about GOP colleagues in recent weeks.” 

Santos implied that he is far from the only local gay politician. “Funny thing about the NY GOP apparatus, it’s filled with closeted Gays that play a hard pretend game,” he tweeted. “I even recall being told not to tell people I was gay by some of them. Subsequently I found some text messages recently and LOL…”