By Diane Jeantet and David Biller | Related Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — A day after New York Rep. George Santos pleaded not responsible to costs within the U.S., he signed an settlement Thursday with public prosecutors in Brazil to keep away from prosecution for forging two stolen checks in 2008.
“What would have been the beginning of a case was ended right now,” Santos’ lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, instructed The Related Press in a textual content message. “As such, my shopper is not the topic of any case in Brazil.”
Requested concerning the particulars of the non-prosecution settlement, Vasconcelos demurred, citing the very fact the case proceeded beneath seal. The general public prosecutors’ workplace of Rio de Janeiro state additionally declined to remark when contacted by the AP.
Courtroom information in Brazil, first uncovered by The New York Occasions, present Santos was the topic of a prison cost for utilizing two stolen checks to purchase objects at a store within the metropolis of Niteroi, together with a pair of sneakers that he gifted to a pal. On the time, Santos would have been 19. The acquisition totaled 2,144 Brazilian reais, then equal to about $1,350, in line with the cost prosecutors filed in 2011.
That adopted an investigation opened in 2008 and Santos’ signed confession, through which he admitted to having stolen the checkbook of his mom’s former employer from her purse and making purchases, together with within the retailer, and recognizing the fraudulent checks as these he had signed, in line with the courtroom paperwork reviewed by the AP.
A choose accepted the costs in opposition to Santos in 2011, however subsequent subpoenas for him to seem personally or current a written protection went unanswered and, with authorities repeatedly unable to find out his whereabouts, the case was suspended in 2013. That modified after he received a U.S. congressional seat and the next flurry of media consideration centered on his doubtful credentials. Rio state prosecutors then petitioned to reopen the case.
Per phrases of the non-prosecution settlement, Santos can pay 24,000 reais (nearly $5,000), with the bulk going to the shopkeeper who obtained the unhealthy checks and the rest to charities, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported, with out saying the way it obtained the data. Santos attended the assembly just about, the paper reported.
Decision of the case removes the likelihood Santos may need been obliged to journey to a different nation to resolve pending costs; that might have been been difficult after he was pressured to give up his passport after latest costs within the U.S.
On Wednesday in New York, Santos pleaded not responsible to costs he stole from his marketing campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, whereas amassing unemployment advantages he didn’t deserve.