Campaign report: George Santos not source of $125G loan

WASHINGTON — A report for Rep. George Santos’ main campaign finance committee filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday by a new treasurer indicated Santos was not the source of a $125,000 loan made to his campaign.

But the 2022 year-end report for the Devolder Santos for Congress committee did check off the box indicating that he used his own personal funds for a $500,000 loan, contradicting an earlier amended report that had left that box unchecked. 

An amended filing to the FEC last week raised questions when it left unchecked a box attesting that the $500,000 loan and the $125,000 loan to his campaign came from "Personal Funds of the Candidate," a contradiction of previous filings.  

The new filing appears to indicate that Santos might be disavowing the $125,000 loan while acknowledging he made the $500,000 loan, potentially spurring more questions about how much of his personal money he has loaned to his campaign.

The filing of the latest report, which listed Andrew Olson as the person who filed it, came as a surprise to campaign finance experts after the Santos campaign submitted papers replacing its longtime treasurer Nancy Marks with Mark Datwyler — who rejected the job, according to his attorney Derek Ross.

Earlier Tuesday, Marks filed notices with the FEC that she had resigned as treasurer of Santos's campaign finance committees as of last Wednesday, emphasizing that she did it at the FEC's request.

But later Tuesday, in an unexpected turn, Marks was listed as the filer of the year-end reports for the other six campaign finance committees set up for Santos to raise money for his campaigns, several of them as victory funds in connection with other committees.

The report for the main committee, for the period from the end of November to the end of December, shows the newly elected Republican congressman raised little money — only $28,820 — spent $42,947 and had $28,116 in cash on hand.

Marks filed reports for the Devolder Santos Victory Committee, the Devolder Santos Nassau Victory Committee, the Devolder Santos for Congress Recount Committee and GADS PAC, a leadership PAC.

She filed termination reports for Devolder Santos Van Duyne Victory Committee and Santos D'Esposito Nassau Victory Committee.

Marks did not respond to Newsday queries.

Santos’ attorney Joseph Murray declined to comment on Marks’ status or the filings.

“I don’t honestly know what’s going on with Nancy. I don’t know what she’s posting or what’s she’s saying,” Murray told Newsday Tuesday.

“But all I can tell you is in light of all of the complaints to the FEC, we’re not commenting on anything related to FEC filings,” he said.

The longtime treasurer for the Santos campaign submitted filings Tuesday to the Federal Election Committee saying she had formally resigned from his campaign committees, freezing all fundraising and spending until Santos, who represents parts of Nassau and Queens, hires a new treasurer. 

Marks performs the duties of a campaign treasurer and also does printing and other campaign work for many well-known candidates, including former Rep. Lee Zeldin. 

But her filings for the Santos committees have drawn intense scrutiny by reporters and at least two complaints to the FEC — one by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center and another by Accountable.US, a nonpartisan corporate watchdog.

Marks' resignation Jan. 25 came a day after she had filed amended FEC filings that appeared to indicate Santos no longer was the source of loans of $500,000 and $125,000.

On Friday, Ross sent a letter to the FEC stating that Datwyler is not the treasurer for the Devolder Santos for Congress committee, did not authorize anyone to sign the form naming him treasurer and asked that the filing be withdrawn.

Ross also asked the FEC to "refer this matter to the appropriate law enforcement agency to determine if a crime occurred."

Meanwhile, the year-end filing for the main campaign finance committee of Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park) reported that on Dec. 28 he returned three contributions totaling $6,800 from Santos and two of Santos' committees.

The filing said D'Esposito returned $2,900 to Santos, $1,000 to the Devolder Santos for Congress committee, Santos’ main campaign committee, and $2,900 to GADS PAC, a leadership PAC whose purpose is to send campaign contributions to other candidates.

D'Esposito and Santos also held an event days before the election that netted $2,000 for a joint fundraising committee they created.

"We have made it a point to return any funds from George Santos or that are connected with the Santos campaign," D'Esposito’s spokesman Matt Capp said in a statement to Newsday.

"With regard to this joint fundraising account, we did not accept a disbursement and are declining any funds," Capp said.