George Santos' Massive Campaign Loans May Not Be Legal

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Even as Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) embarks on his apology tour, admitting he lied to voters for years about some of the most fundamental facts of his life, there’s been one mystery that Santos has been less than clear about: where his purported millions came from.

The Daily Beast now has at least part of the answer—the identities of four Santos corporate clients. And while this new revelation might put Santos in even more hot water, what Santos did with his newfound riches could be even more damning.

Santos has already admitted using cash from his company, the Devolder Organization, to fund his campaign—a move campaign finance experts say could add up to an unlawful $700,000 corporate contribution.

That’s because, while candidates for federal office may give unlimited amounts of their own money to their campaign, they cannot expressly tap corporate accounts to do so.

Santos confirmed to The Daily Beast on Wednesday that he withdrew money from the firm to underwrite his campaign. He made the same claim in an interview on Monday, telling WABC radio host and Santos donor John Catsimatidis that the combined $700,000 in loans—scattered in varying increments across a period of more than a year—“was the money I paid myself through the Devolder Organization.” (Santos’ most recent financial disclosure shows a $750,000 salary from the Devolder Organization, along with dividends valued between $1 million and $5 million.)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/george-santos-massive-campaign-loans-may-not-be-legal/ar-AA15L74H

[Cha]

1. TY.. I hope that "may" turns into

"Are"!

[Slammer]

2. Santos

Unfortunately, he probably did this the legal way.

According to the article, the $700,000 in loans was the money he paid himself through the Devolder Organization.

You are legally allowed to pay yourself through your company.

You are then legally allowed to loan money from your personal accounts to your campaign.

The problem he's likely to face is that the loan would usually be repaid to himself through campaign fundraising done after the election itself is over.

Since no one in their right minds (or even the MAGA crowd) would give his congressional campaign a donation at this point after it's become so very public that he was lying to everybody about everything, the campaign isn't going to have money to repay the loan.

The inability of the campaign to repay the loan could cause him legal problems depending on how carefully the loan was structured.