US congressman-elect facing renewed fraud charges in Brazil

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Brazilian authorities will reinstate fraud charges against US Republican-elect congressman George Santos related to a stolen checkbook, according to media reports Tuesday.

The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office told CNN that Brazilian police were unable to locate the book for nearly a decade.

Prosecutors will seek a “formal response” from Santos regarding the charges in 2008, now that his location is known.

Santos is set to be sworn in Tuesday to the 118th Congress despite growing calls for him to resign for lying about his resume.

The congressman, 34, admitted last month that he had lied about parts of his resume.

His comments came after the New York Times reported last week that his resume “may be largely fiction.”

Although his campaign biography said he worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, those companies denied having any record of him working there.

Santos’ resume said he graduated from Baruch College in 2010 but officials there were not able to confirm a record of him attending the school.

He admitted in an interview with the New York Post that he “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup while confessing he never graduated from any college.​​​​​​​