Republican US Representative George Santos, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, has been arrested and charged with fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, the Justice Department says in a statement.
He was expected to appear later on Wednesday at a federal court in New York.
Mr Santos’ lawyer and his congressional office did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters late on Tuesday, after CNN first reported the news about the charges.
An Associated Press reporter who reached him by phone on Tuesday quoted Mr Santos as saying: “This is news to me. You’re the first to call me about this.”
The indictment says Mr Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretence that the money would be used to support his campaign.
Instead, it says, he used it for personal expenses including luxury designer clothes and to pay off his credit cards.
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US Attorney Breon Peace said the indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations”.
Shortly after the election of the 34-year-old Mr Santos in November, in a district largely comprising a wealthy area of New York’s Long Island, the New York Times and other media outlets revealed that Mr Santos had fabricated almost every aspect of his personal and professional history.
Among other claims, Mr Santos said he had degrees from New York University and Baruch College, despite neither institution’s having any record of his attending.
He claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which also was untrue.
He said falsely that he was Jewish and that his grandparents escaped the Nazis during World War II.
Mr Santos, who identifies as gay, also failed to disclose that he was married to a woman for several years ending in 2019.
He has since admitted to fabricating large parts of his resume.
-with AP
