Man who claims to be ex-boyfriend of embattled GOP Rep.-elect Santos says he never went to work

A man claiming to be a former boyfriend of embattled New York GOP Rep.-elect George Santos has come forward with details of their relationship that further casts doubt upon the claims Santos made about his resumé during the 2022 midterm campaign.

Pedro Vilarva began dating Santos in 2014, when he was 18 and the prospective lawmaker was 26. Vilarva has asserted that he paid most of the bills while the pair lived together and that Santos, rarely, if ever, went to work, according to the Daily Mail.

During the 2022 midterm campaigns, Santos's campaign website falsely claimed that he had graduated from Baruch College when he had not in fact ever obtained any college degree. Moreover, he falsely claimed to have worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, but now says he actually worked for a separate company that merely had dealings with both.

Vilarva's claims have cast light on a potentially years-long string of lies about his background in which Santos appears to have engaged.

"He used to say he would get money from Citigroup, he was an investor," Vilarva told the New York Times. "One day it's one thing, one day it's another thing. He never ever actually went to work."

Vilarva later discovered that Santos was wanted in Brazil for the alleged theft of $700 when he was 19 using a stolen checkbook. He has admitted to the crime. It was at that point that Vilarva broke off the relationship.

Santos has also made dubious claims about his ancestry, saying his family had fled persecution from the Nazis during the Holocaust and made their way to Brazil, though subsequent reports have cast doubt on that claim as well.

He is slated to be sworn in to office this week and has resisted calls to resign or face the voters in a special election.