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RandySF

(58,488 posts)
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 08:59 PM Jan 2023

We Tried to Call the Top Donors to George Santos' 2020 Campaign. Many Don't Seem to Exist

In September 2020, George Santos’ congressional campaign reported that Victoria and Jonathan Regor had each contributed $2,800—the maximum amount—to his first bid for a House seat. Their listed address was 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson Township, New Jersey.

A search of various databases reveals no one in the United States named Victoria or Jonathan Regor. Moreover, there is nobody by any name living at 45 New Mexico Street in Jackson. That address doesn’t exist. There is a New Mexico Street in Jackson, but the numbers end in the 20s, according to Google Maps and a resident of the street.

Santos’ 2020 campaign finance reports also list a donor named Stephen Berger as a $2,500 donor and said he was a retiree who lived on Brandt Road in Brawley, California. But a spokesperson for William Brandt, a prominent rancher and Republican donor, tells Mother Jones that Brandt has lived at that address for at least 20 years and “neither he or his wife (the only other occupant [at the Brandt Road home]) have made any donations to George Santos. He does not know Stephen Berger nor has Stephen Berger ever lived at…Brandt Road.”

The Regor and Berger contributions are among more than a dozen major donations to the 2020 Santos campaign for which the name or the address of the donor cannot be confirmed, a Mother Jones investigation found. A separate $2,800 donation was attributed in Santos’ reports filed with the Federal Election Commission to a friend of Santos who says he did not give the money.

Under federal campaign finance law, it is illegal to donate money using a false name or the name of someone else. “It’s called a contribution in the name of another,” says Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group. “It’s something that is explicitly prohibited under federal law.”



https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/we-tried-to-call-the-top-donors-to-george-santos-2020-campaign-many-dont-seem-to-exist/

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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We Tried to Call the Top Donors to George Santos' 2020 Campaign. Many Don't Seem to Exist (Original Post) RandySF Jan 2023 OP
1-800-Vlad-Putin onecaliberal Jan 2023 #1
You beat me to it. grumpyduck Jan 2023 #3
: onecaliberal Jan 2023 #7
Beat me to it too, and I like when that happens. housecat Jan 2023 #23
: onecaliberal Jan 2023 #33
1-800-KOCH ancianita Jan 2023 #21
Lol. Exactly! KPN Jan 2023 #24
This message was self-deleted by its author dalton99a Jan 2023 #2
I wonder how many other politicians have fake contributors. chowder66 Jan 2023 #4
Santos's mom posthumously donated $2,800 too. Apparently, while you can't take it with you. . . TheBlackAdder Jan 2023 #22
My guess now is "many". PlutosHeart Jan 2023 #26
Imagine that! 2naSalit Jan 2023 #5
Oh boy.. Where did that $$$$$$ really Cha Jan 2023 #6
This is important. yardwork Jan 2023 #8
So his friends are imaginary too? Irish_Dem Jan 2023 #9
Other names on the donation list: Ray Bruns Jan 2023 #10
Robin Droppings and Seymour Butts too Captain Zero Jan 2023 #11
Hugh Janus, I.P. Knightly, I. Seymour Haires sprinkleeninow Jan 2023 #15
Heywood U. Blowme central scrutinizer Jan 2023 #16
Bob Down,.. Permanut Jan 2023 #17
Don't forget Willie Makitt, Justin Thyme, and Ida Noe. patphil Jan 2023 #19
Also my favorite TlalocW Jan 2023 #25
Dewey, Cheatham and Howe mbusby Jan 2023 #29
Ivana Tinkle. louis-t Jan 2023 #31
Yeah but BOSSHOG Jan 2023 #12
Phil McCracken gave $2k. Marcuse Jan 2023 #13
This is bigger than just one lying little snake dork. NBachers Jan 2023 #14
Jack Mehoff, Clear Lake IA rubbersole Jan 2023 #18
V. Putin, Vlad Pooten, Mr and Mrs Voldemort Pussin LakeArenal Jan 2023 #20
It was Koch. His networks are much older than Putin, and much more likely behind this. ancianita Jan 2023 #32
In my mind it's one long family money tree. LakeArenal Jan 2023 #36
In reality here in teh US it's the Koch money tree. ancianita Jan 2023 #37
First Wisconsin then the rest. LakeArenal Jan 2023 #38
Is John Baron one of them Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jan 2023 #27
curiouser and curiouser BlueWaveNeverEnd Jan 2023 #28
So now we have wire fraud as well as falsifying campaign finances. This cake has quite a few layers? Ford_Prefect Jan 2023 #30
Forgetting he has the magic R? Emile Jan 2023 #34
maybe he's just a fucking idiot but......... Takket Jan 2023 #35
Who owns this Congressperson? ZonkerHarris Jan 2023 #39

Response to RandySF (Original post)

TheBlackAdder

(28,167 posts)
22. Santos's mom posthumously donated $2,800 too. Apparently, while you can't take it with you. . .
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 10:35 PM
Jan 2023

.

you still have access to wire transfers.

.

Permanut

(5,561 posts)
17. Bob Down,..
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 09:53 PM
Jan 2023

Barbara Seville
Bud Light
Carrie Oakey
Earl E. Bird
Gene Poole
Jack Hammer
Ken Dahl
Lily Pond
Moe De Grasse
Pearle E. Gates
Warren Peace

And I'm sure there are a lot of others.

BOSSHOG

(37,014 posts)
12. Yeah but
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 09:46 PM
Jan 2023

Kev says he knows the constitution therefore he ain’t doing nothing bout santos. Such a wealth of knowledge about those who don’t know how to lead, govern or manage money. But they do have conservative values.

Ford_Prefect

(7,870 posts)
30. So now we have wire fraud as well as falsifying campaign finances. This cake has quite a few layers?
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 11:00 PM
Jan 2023

I don't think this is Putin money per se. He was more thoroughly at arm's length for other candidates and the NRA.

This smell like a poorly conceived money laundering deal. Like the gang that couldn't scam straight: a bunch of amateurs who don't know how to do it the right way made it up according to the rumors they had heard, assuming they wouldn't get caught because anyone else in politics is of course similarly corrupt. in short any BS they manufactured would look just like what any other politician submitted and wouldn't be checked out.

Takket

(21,528 posts)
35. maybe he's just a fucking idiot but.........
Fri Jan 27, 2023, 11:39 PM
Jan 2023

if you are going to take donations to launder money somehow, why would you use names that don't even exist and streets that don't exist? seems it would take all of 5 seconds to google the name "john smith", find ones that lives a 10 maple street in some city, and just put down that name. at least it is tied to real person if someone starts snooping around. granted that won't help you if they CALL john smith, but at least you won't make it EASY for anyone to figure out what you did

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