A young, gay Republican born in New York City to Brazilian immigrants, congressional candidate George Devolder-Santos has embraced a public image as a “walking, living, breathing contradiction.”
But the would-be successor to Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) seems less eager to share another detail of his personal story: for all his rants against “the swamp,” Devolder-Santos served as a director of an investment firm authorities say bilked millions of dollars from its customers.
Despite running in a solidly blue district, Devolder-Santos has managed to capture media attention with his atypical political identity and fiery denunciations of socialism, as well as his unabashed cheerleading of ex-President Donald Trump.
In January 2021, he lit up LGBTQ outlets and tabloid publications when he claimed his fiancé had lost his job and the couple had to flee their home as a result of the New York Times linking to his Instagram in a story about a maskless New Year’s Eve party at ex-President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
More recently, he’s won attention for first bashing Ukraine—where his grandfather was born—as a “totalitarian regime” to the Washington Post, then later urging prayers for the nation in a spot on Fox News.
Despite all the publicity, one fact about Devolder-Santos has eluded scrutiny: the Securities and Exchange Commission accused his most recent employer, Harbor City Capital,…