New York (AFP) - A US Republican congressman-elect who admitted making up significant parts of his resume is under criminal investigation, US media reported Wednesday, citing prosecutors in New York.
George Santos's victory in the Empire State helped his party secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Congress's lower chamber.
But a New York Times investigation cast doubt on key parts of his education and work history that he touted during the campaign.
Santos admitted Monday to significant fabrications of his resume, confessing that he'd neither worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup nor graduated from college, despite his claims to the contrary.
"The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement carried by multiple major US media outlets.
"The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it."
Santos has refused to give up his seat in Congress, telling the New York Post: "I'm not a criminal."
He apologized for "embellishing my resume" but stretched credulity in defending his false claim that he was Jewish.
"I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was 'Jew-ish,'" he told the Post.
Santos, who beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a newly-drawn district straddling Queens and Long Island, was at the vanguard of a Republican "wave" in New York that powered the party to a 222-212 House majority.
The Times story raised questions over how he was able to lend his campaign $700,000 after claiming on a campaign finance filing in 2020 that he was making $55,000 a year.
Several Democrats have demanded that House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy call a vote to expel Santos if he does not quit.
