Embattled GOP Rep. George Santos (N.Y) says he founded his company, Devolder Organization, after stepping away from previous employment when he was 12-years-old.
The Devolder Organization is the company that Santos claimed paid him a $750,000 a year salary and loaned his campaign $705,000 between 2020 and 2022, including $500,000 in March 2022 and another installment of $125,000 later that year closer to the midterms. It’s still unclear what the organization does or who its clients are.
Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into Santos’ finances, according to CNN.
In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Santos was asked where the money came from to make these loans to his campaign.
He insisted that the money was obtained “through legitimate reasons and channels,” adding, “Devolder Organization was founded in 2001 when I stepped away from my previous employment, and I decided to go on my own to do exactly what I did for other companies for years which is capital introduction relationship management of high-net-worth individuals.”
Records show the Devolder Organization was founded in 2021 after Santos stopped working at Harbor City Capital, a company which the SEC called a “classic Ponzi scheme,” according to the Washington Post.
There are legitimate questions to be asked about Santos’ finances but in this case it appears he might have misspoken and meant to say 2021 instead of 2001, though with Santos you can’t be too certain.
