Alleged victim of George Santos fraud: ‘Being deceived is a terrible feeling’

A former shop clerk from Brazil who was allegedly defrauded by Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) commiserated with those who voted for the incoming congressman in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, calling Santos a “professional liar.”

“I was very frustrated,” Bruno Simões told CNN of his encounter with Santos nearly 15 years ago. “Being deceived is a terrible feeling.”

Santos allegedly visited the store where Simões worked in 2008 and paid for more than $1,300 in merchandise with two stolen checks, according to CNN. 

When the checks were revealed to be fraudulent, Simões said the store’s owner demanded that he repay the full amount, although his boss would eventually waive some of it.

“Unlike being mugged by someone with a gun who robs you, you might get angry, but being deceived, being fooled, someone acting in bad faith to steal from you, to me, it’s an even worse feeling,” Simões said.

Santos confessed to using the forged checks in a social media message to Simões in 2009 and in a statement to Brazilian police in 2010, according to CNN. Despite acknowledging that he “screwed up,” Santos never repaid him, Simões said. 

The investigation into the incident has remained on hold for more than decade, as police were previously unable to locate Santos. However, Brazilian authorities recently said they had reopened the case, as Santos’s location became known amid scrutiny over his background.

After a report from The New York Times raised questions about his resume, Santos admitted last week to lying about his educational and professional background. Despite his previous claims, Santos never attended Baruch College and did not work for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup.

Santos has also come under fire for claiming to be a “proud American Jew” after he clarified that he identifies religiously as Catholic.

The incoming congressman from Long Island is currently also facing investigations from the district attorney for Nassau County and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York.

Simões told CNN that it was a “mix of shock and a comical scene” to realize that Santos had been elected to the U.S. Congress.

“I saw his photo and I remembered very clearly the photos I had seen of him when he was 19 years old. I said, ‘How is it possible for a criminal, an embezzler, to be elected as a congressman?’ To me that was unbelievable,” he said.

The former shop clerk added that it appears as though Santos “hasn’t learned and is still investing in this career of fraud, faking information and lying.”

“Some people make mistakes and regret them, and others seem to never regret and end up living their whole lives as a fraud,” Simões said. “I believe that is the case with George.”

However, Santos has recently denied any wrongdoing in the Brazilian case.

“I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world,” he told the New York Post in an interview last week. “Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”