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Who is George Santos and why is he in trouble?

Embattled US Congressman George Santos, who ran for office on an embellished biography, is facing possible expulsion from the House of Representatives after less than a year in office. 

The 35-year-old lawmaker is facing dozens of federal charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States. 

An admitted "terrible liar", Mr Santos has been dogged by allegations of falsehoods and fraud throughout his brief career on Capitol Hill. 

A non-existent real estate portfolio, fraudulent claims of college degrees and confusion over whether he's Jewish - or merely "Jew-ish" - were just some of the controversies the New York Republican faced before he was even sworn into office. He even reportedly claimed to donors that he helped produce the infamous Spider-Man musical on Broadway - he didn't. 

During his campaign, Mr Santos billed himself as "the full embodiment of the American dream": an openly gay child of Brazilian immigrants who rose to the upper echelons of Wall Street before entering the world of politics. 

Mr Santos' narrative of his life quickly fell into tatters, with the lawmaker admitting large portions of his story were entirely made up. 

A relative newcomer to US politics, Mr Santos was lauded as the first openly gay Republican to win a seat in the House of Representatives as a non-incumbent with his victory last year. 

According to a biography published online by his campaign - which was later rewritten - Mr Santos is a first-generation American born in the New York City borough of Queens. His grandparents, the website noted, "fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII" before settling in Brazil. His Brazilian-born parents eventually immigrated to the US "in search of the American dream". 

Mr Santos claimed to have been educated at Baruch College in New York City before becoming a "seasoned Wall Street financier and investor" with experience working at prestigious firms including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. 

He also claimed that he owned 13 properties - which "he'd worked hard for" - and that his mother was "in her office in the south tower" of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. His campaign's website said that she survived the attack, only to die several years later. 

The New York Times published a series of stories calling into question large portions of his CV, including his education and his work experience and even his claims to be a college volleyball star.

Other news outlets also found no evidence that his grandparents fled antisemitism in Europe or that he is Jewish, despite earlier boasts of being a "proud American Jew". 

After the initial reports, Mr Santos admitted that he embellished his background. He never graduated from any university or worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, nor did he own property across New York. 

It was also revealed his mother, who died in 2016, was likely not in the US on 9/11.

He also acknowledged that he misrepresented his faith, telling the New York Post that he's Catholic and that he said he was "Jew-ish" after learning that his maternal family had a Jewish background. 

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Mr Santos said he fabricated his biography and life story to gain acceptance from voters in New York's third district.  

"I've been a terrible liar on those subjects and what I'm trying to convey to the American people is I made mistakes in allowing the pressures of what I thought needed to be done [to get elected]," he said.

By January, nearly 80% of his constituents wanted him to resign, according to a survey conducted by Newsday and Siena College. 

In May, Mr Santos was indicted on 13 criminal charges including fraud, theft of public funds, money laundering and making false statements to Congress. 

A second, superseding indictment filed in October saw him charged with 10 additional crimes - conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), two counts of falsifying records to the FEC, and access device fraud.

Prosecutors have alleged that Mr Santos laundered campaign funds to pay for his personal expenses, illegally claimed unemployment benefits and reported non-existent loans to his campaign to qualify for support from the Republican Party, among other offences. 

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has denied any wrongdoing. 

A trial has been set for 9 September 2024. 

Since taking office, Mr Santos has sparred with drag queens on Twitter, co-sponsored a bill to make the AR-15 the "national gun of the United States" and was the deciding vote on the Republican bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling.  

And, while Mr Santos has vowed to run for re-election next year, his political future is now in doubt. 

In late October, fellow New York Republicans formally demanded his expulsion from Congress. 

If two-thirds of representatives vote to do so, Mr Santos will be expelled from the House. 

It is unclear if that will happen. Republicans hold an extremely narrow majority in the House, meaning that many lawmakers may be reluctant to lose a Republican vote on the floor.

Only five members of the House of Representatives have ever been expelled from office in US history. 

In both the most recent cases - in 1980 and 2002 - the representatives were expelled after being convicted of federal charges. 

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