New: We've identified more than a dozen top donors to Santos' 2020 campaign who do not seem to exist. I also spoke to a friend of Santos' who says he did not give the $2,800 donation attributed to him. motherjones.com/politics/2023/…
A retiree named Stephen Berger at an address on Brandt Road in Brawley, CA, was listed as giving $2,500. William Brandt and his wife have lived at that home for at least two decades. He did not donate to Santos, nor does he know Stephen Berger.
Victoria and Jonathan Regor of 45 New Mexico St in Jackson, NJ, were reported as each giving $2,800. The issue: There is no record of a Victoria or Jonathan Regor living in the United States. Nor is there a 45 New Mexico St in Jackson.
It is illegal to donate money using a false name or the name of someone else. “It’s called a contribution in the name of another,” says @SGhoshCLC. “It’s something that is explicitly prohibited under federal law.”
One donor I contacted is a friend of Santos' who gave a small donation in 2020. He was shocked to learn that a $2,800 donation was later made in his name. He found no record of being charged $2,800, meaning someone may have used his name in a straw donor scheme.
For the small donation he did make, his employer is described correctly in FEC records. In the one he says he didn't make, his employer is an aborted hand sanitizer venture that only he and Santos worked on.
@nlanard Dinesh D'Souz did that made straw donations
@nlanard Using the same credit card? or Just the name..?
@nlanard @jlq529 it's weird how people like MTG & Boebert raise so much $$$
@nlanard As the old saying goes, “Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times looks like enemy action.”
@nlanard How is this not a federal crime with serious time behind it?