A new report connects Rep. George Santos to a Russian oligarch who gave the congressman at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.
George Santos, the freshman Republican congressman from New York who lied about his biography, has deeper ties than previously known to a businessman who cultivated close links with a onetime Trump confidant and who is the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, according to video footage and court documents.
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Andrew Intrater and his wife each gave the maximum $5,800 to Santos’ main campaign committee and tens of thousands more since 2020 to committees linked to him, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Intrater’s cousin is Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his role in the Russian energy industry.
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Santos had a business and political relationship with a man whose cousin is a sanctioned Russian billionaire oligarch. Intrater is a US citizen, but his business interests are interlocked with his Russian cousin.
Foreign money laundering into US elections can be difficult to trace in some cases, but George Santos has made this one very easy. Russians have gotten money into American politics by using a US citizen front to launder the cash before it gets to the candidate or organization.
In the case of Santos, it appears that the Russian oligarch’s money was washed through his cousin, so it looked like a legal US contribution, but in reality, it could be foreign cash that was illegally given to a US candidate.
George Santos won’t say where his sudden wealth came from, but as investigations continue it is looking very possible that a Putin ally bought himself a congressman.
As more facts emerge, Santos’s constituents who want him gone may soon get their wish.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
