George Santos has been under the microscope ever since reports began emerging about his various fabrications, and the most recent development won't ease pressure on the freshman New York congressman. A week after a watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Santos, claiming multiple campaign-finance violations, headlines are now popping up about Santos' ties to Andrew Intrater, a US citizen, former confidant of Donald Trump, and CEO of investment firm Columbus Nova—and who also happens to be a cousin of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who's been sanctioned by the US, reports the Washington Post.
Per FEC filings, Intrater and his wife gave $5,800 each—the max under campaign finance laws—to Santos' main campaign committee, plus "tens of thousands more since 2020 to committees linked to him," per the Post. And that's how Santos has long painted Intrater: as a businessman who just happens to have thrown some money his way to help with his campaign. "But, as with most things involving Santos, things were not what they seemed," notes the Daily Beast. To wit: The Santos-Intrater relationship appears to also have been linked to Santos' work raising money for Harbor City Capital—a Florida-based investment firm that the Securities and Exchange Commission is now calling a Ponzi scheme.
According to an SEC filing, Intrater pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into HCC, where Santos, 34, worked for more than a year before jumping more fully into politics. The Post also has seen footage of Santos from a 2020 company Zoom meeting in which he notes Intrater's Columbus Nova was a "client" of his. Intrater's company, meanwhile, has "historically had extensive ties to the business interests" of Vekselberg, who, along with his Renova conglomerate, was hit with sanctions from the US Treasury Department in 2018 for reaping the benefits of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "malign activity around the globe."
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That same year, Columbus Nova confirmed to the Post that Renova was, at that time, its biggest client, though the former company insisted the latter was being run by Americans, not Vekselberg. Neither Intrater nor Santos replied to the Post's requests for comment. CBS News notes that Santos is also facing probes from state and federal prosecutors, as well as a complaint to a congressional ethics panel. Much more here on Santos and Intrater, including the latter's apparent ties to former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, and here for more on another controversial Santos donor, a reported Italian national who pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling migrants. (More George Santos stories.)
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