On 9 May, Santos was indicted by federal prosecutors and the following day, surrendered to authorities.
He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos, who was once young and had fun at a festival in Brazil, has been rigorously investigated since he was elected earlier this year as a result of his ongoing pattern of fabrications and false statements.
His unverified claims include: everything about his education, his Jewish ancestry, being diagnosed with a brain tumour, his mother surviving 9/11, a volleyball career resulting in a double knee replacement, his financial status and that he walked in New York Fashion Week.
Under a Wikipedia page for one of his aliases, Anthony Devolder, Santos also claimed to have starred alongside Miley Cyrus in Disney Channel’s iconic musical comedy series Hannah Montana.
On Tuesday, Santos told The Associated Press of the charges: “This is news to me. You’re the first to call me about this.”
Derek Myers, the congressman’s former aide, tweeted that he “secretly met with agents from the FBI in an effort to work as a confidential informant and human asset” against him.
Myers told NewsNation that the Justice Department’s charges are “just the start” of an “avalanche” of problems for Trixie Mattel’s nemesis.
I can publicly confirm that during my brief time in the Congressman’s office I had met secretly with agents from @FBI in an effort to work as a confidential informant and human asset against the Congressman during my course of employment in his office. I cannot go into further… https://t.co/04nyKyliVK
— Derek Myers (@DerekMyers) May 9, 2023
Back in January, Santos went viral after photos emerged of him in drag.
Two former acquaintances told Reuters that he used to compete as a drag queen in Brazilian beauty pageants under the name Kitara Ravache.
Eula Rochard, a 58-year-old Brazilian performer, said she became friends with Santos in 2005 and another – who chose to remain anonymous – said he aspired to win Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro.
On Twitter, Santos described the aforementioned claims as the “most recent obsession from the media” and referred to them as “categorically false”.
Santos eventually doubled down on this stance and recently told reporters: “No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life.”
The 34-year-old politician became the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat in Congress as a non-incumbent and has embraced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation such as Florida’s archaic ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.