Republican congressman George Santos accused of dating teenagers and catfishing
George Santos has been alleged by ex-partners he hurt them mentally, catfished them and offered them green cards whilst dating him.(Getty)
Gay Republican George Santos has been accused of dating a high school student when he was 26-years-old and catfishing a man who didn’t want to be in a relationship with him.
An ABC News report has detailed numerous revelations from multiple men about their experiences dating George Santos. The men interviewed said he consistently told lies and tried to manipulate them on several occasions.
Leandro Bis said he dated Santos when he was 19 while visiting the US on a tourist visa from Brazil. Santos – 25 at the time – apparently offered to marry Bis in order for him to obtain a green card. Bis went on to describe the disgraced politician as”manipulative” when they were dating.
He also claimed Santos told him that he dated supermodels. At that time, Santos went by the name of Anthony Zabrovski, a name that he was accused of using in order to appear more Jewish so he could raise money for a charity, ABC reports.
In the report, Bis recounts his time with Santos: “If you get a green card from him, you will be in his hands forever.”
“It was an illusion… Now I realise he just wanted to get people under his hand,” he added.
A second man, Pedro Vilarva, said he met Santos on Tinder in 2014. Vilarva was 18 at the time, and in high school when Santos encouraged him to move into his apartment.
“He hurt me a lot mentally”
Santos was already living with his then-wife, Uadla Vieira, at the time.
According to accounts by Vilarva, Santos said she was his “friend” and was unaware they were married until he’d been dating Santos for months.
A year into dating Santos, Vilarva said he began to understand just how often Santos had lied to him, eventually moving out from Santos’ home after discovering he’d faced legal charges in Brazil for forging cheques.
Another ex, Kevin Guzman, told ABC News that, even though he had rejected Santos’s advantages, the politician told people they were dating anyway.
“He wanted me to be in a relationship with him, which I didn’t want. He hurt me a lot mentally,” Guzman said.
“Then he made everybody think that I was with him. He was with me all the time then. I didn’t realise how much he had sold it,” Guzman added.
Guzman went onto describe how Santos made him feel scared mentally hurt. He was particularly concerned after Santos began catfishing as him on various dating sites.
What else has George Santos lied about and received criminal charges for?
The gay GOP legislator acknowledged he fabricated some facts about his background during his successful campaign for a seat in the US House in separate interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post.
He insisted in both interviews that he’s “not a criminal” and believes the controversy wouldn’t ultimately impact his two-year term in the House of Representatives.
According to a New York Times report published on 1 January, Santos claimed his mother was “the first female executive at a major financial institution”. Friends, however, told the Times she was a cook.
He also claimed that “9/11 claimed my mother’s life” – but according to researchers, she actually died in 2016 due to complications unrelated to the terrorist attacks.
Santos is also the subject of a reopened criminal fraud case in Brazil.
He was accused of using a stolen chequebook and a false name at a Rio de Janeiro clothing store in 2008, the New York Times reported.
