RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A day after New York Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty to charges in the United States, he signed a deal Thursday with prosecutors in Brazil to avoid prosecution for forging two checks stolen on 2008
“What would have been the beginning of a case ended today,” Santos’ lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, told The Associated Press in a text message. “As such, my client is no longer the subject of any case in Brazil.”
Asked about the details of the no-prosecution agreement, Vasconcelos objected, citing the fact that the case was sealed. The Rio de Janeiro state prosecutor’s office also declined to comment when contacted by the AP.
Brazilian court records, first uncovered by The New York Times, show that Santos was the subject of a criminal indictment for using two stolen checks to buy items at a store in the city of Niteroi, including a pair of sneakers which he gave to a friend. . At the time, Santos would have been 19 years old. The purchase totaled 2,144 Brazilian reais, then equivalent to about $1,350, according to charges prosecutors filed in 2011.
This follows an investigation opened in 2008 and Santos’ signed confession, in which he admitted to stealing his mother’s former employer’s checkbook from her wallet and making purchases, including the store, and recognize the fraudulent checks as the ones he had signed. according to court documents reviewed by the AP.
A judge accepted the charges against Santos in 2011, but subsequent subpoenas for him to appear in person or file a written defense went unanswered, and with authorities repeatedly unable to determine his whereabouts, the case was dropped in 2013. This change after one of the US won. congressional seat and the subsequent flurry of media attention focused on his dubious credentials. Rio state prosecutors then asked to reopen the case.
Under the terms of the no-prosecution agreement, Santos will pay 24,000 reais (almost $5,000), with most of it going to the shopkeeper who received the bad checks and the rest to charity, Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported. without saying how he got it. the information. Santos attended the meeting virtually, the newspaper reports.
The resolution of the case eliminates the possibility that Santos would have been forced to travel to another country to resolve the pending charges; that might have been complicated after he was forced to surrender his passport following recent charges in the US
On Wednesday in New York, Santos pleaded not guilty to charges that he stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire while collecting unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve.
