The disabled Navy veteran who accused Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) of taking thousands of dollars raised for his dying service dog announced on Wednesday that he has spoken with the FBI about the incident.
The vet, Richard Osthoff, says that in 2016, a GoFundMe was set up to raise money for his dog, Sapphire, who needed surgery. Santos helped bring in donations through a charity linked to him, but when it was time to turn over the $3,000 that had been raised, Santos started "coming up with all these excuses," Osthoff said, before refusing to give him any of the money. Osthoff could not afford the surgery, and Sapphire died.
Osthoff told Politico and NBC News on Wednesday that he spoke with FBI agents over the phone and has turned over the records and information they requested. "I'm elated the big guys finally picked it up," Osthoff told NBC News. "I turned over all my text messages and I'm in the process of turning over everything related to the GoFundMe campaign."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Santos is in the center of several scandals, including lying about his education and work experience and potentially committing multiple campaign finance violations, and federal prosecutors in New York opened an investigation into Santos in December, law enforcement officials told NBC News. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) told Politico there is "no one that poses a greater threat in Congress than Santos. It's undeniable that he's broken the law. We have to protect Congress from George Santos, who threatens it from within."
-
The biggest sports betting scandals in historyIn Depth The recent indictments of professional athletes were the latest in a long line of scandals
-
Nick Fuentes’ Groyper antisemitism is splitting the rightTalking Points Interview with Tucker Carlson draws conservative backlash
-
Jamaicans reeling from Hurricane MelissaSpeed Read The Category 5 storm caused destruction across the country
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
