Video Of George Santos Boasting He Managed $1.5 Billion For Fund SEC Later Labeled a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Revealed By CNN’s KFile
CNN’s KFile revealed a video on Friday showing fabulist Rep. George Santos (R-NY) dropping yet another major whopper, claiming in 2020 he managed a $1.5 billion fund, which has since come under scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
KFile’s Andrew Kaczynski shared the clip on Twitter in a lengthy thread that he kicked off by reporting the latest findings in his investigation:
NEW: George Santos has said he was unaware of alleged fraud at “Ponzi Scheme” he worked at for more than a year. But in a since-deleted tweet, Santos was alerted to fraud by a potential customer and defended the business as “100 legitimate.”
In the clip from 2020 Santos, says, “I know numbers. Currently, at Harbor City Capital I manage a $1.5 billion fund and I know how to manage it well. I give record returns to anybody who watches this all understand I’m giving you a 12% fixed yield income return a year, which nobody in the market’s giving 4, and we’re giving 12.”
“We’re also giving up to 20 to 26% in IRR return on our investors’ capital. So it’s just something I know how to deal with, manage these dollars and grow them,” Santos, who has admitted to lying about his education and past employment history, added.
CNN’s report, co-authored by Em Steck, adds that “Santos worked at Harbor City Capital Corp. in 2020 and 2021, a company the SEC said was a ‘classic Ponzi scheme’ in an April 2021 complaint against the firm.”
While Santos was not named in the SEC complaint against Harbor City Capital, KFile dug up some old tweets in which Santos vehemently defends the fund, even after a Twitter user calls out the apparent fraud.
“The market instability is leading to sever (sic) capital erosion. @HarborCityCap offers you a strategy that mitigates loss and risk while creating cash flow, meanwhile your principle is 100% secured by an SBLC held by various major institutions. #fixedincome #alternativeinvestment #win,” reads a Santos tweet from April 2020 uncovered by CNN.
Santos tweeted at the time under the name George Devolder — his late mother’s last name.
“George, this SBLC I received from Harbor City was looked into, and Deutsche Bank claims is a complete fraud and not signed by the bank officer on the document. How do you explain this?,” a user replied in June.
“I’m sorry I’m not following you. Could you please send me an email at George.devolder@harborcity.com and we can go over this together. Our SBLC is 100% legitimate and issued by their institution. I look forward to hearing from you,” Santos replied.
Harbor City Capital is now shut down and CNN’s reporting debunked his other claims:
In fact, according to the SEC complaint, “at no point” was Harbor City Capital “ever issued a SBLC,” despite claims from the company.
Dylan Riddle, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, told CNN on Monday that they had no affiliation with Harbor City Capital.
“Harbor City Capital was not a client of Deutsche Bank,” he said.
While calls have continued to grow for Santos to resign or be removed from Congress, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to back him until proof of wrongdoing is brought to light.
