George Santos

From Wire Reports

Just as gay Republican Rep. George Santos of New York told GOP colleagues Tuesday, Jan. 31, he was “temporarily” stepping down from his two congressional committees amid a host of ethics issues and a day after he met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ABC News has launched a blockbuster report full of allegations against Santos of catfishing, threats and dating teenagers.

According to the ABC News report, “multiple men” have described relationships with Santos, some of which happened when these men were still teenagers, in which Santos lied to try and manipulate and trap them.

Santos has faced numerous calls for his resignation and is facing multiple investigations by prosecutors over his personal and campaign finances and lies about his resume and family background. He still says he will not resign from Congress, though.

Santos had been assigned to two fairly low-profile panels, the House Committee on Small Business and to the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole, R-Olka., said Santos’ decision to step down from those committees was well-received by the GOP conference. “I think it was the appropriate thing to do, and I was proud of him for getting up and doing this,” Cole said.

Leandro Bis is one of the men ABC News interviewed. He said he was 19 when he met Santos at a Manhattan bar in 2013 while visiting from Brazil. He said that over the next few weeks he and Santos — who he knew then as Anthony Zabrovski and who was 25 at the time — began a romantic relationship. He said Santos told him stories of all the supermodels he had dated and that as the relationship turned more and more toxic Santos told more lies to try and manipulate Bis into staying with him, including promising to marry Bis so that the younger man could more easily become a U.S. citizen.

“He promised me, ‘Don’t worry,’ and that he will get me a green card if I marry him and stay under his ‘wings,’” Bis told ABC, adding that he was glad he had chosen to leave Santos and return to Brazil.

Pedro Vilarva told ABC News me was just 18 and still in high school when he met Santos on Tinder, and that he then, at Santos’ insistence, moved into an apartment with a woman Santos introduced as his “friend.” The woman was, in fact, Uadla Vieira, Santos’ wife from 2012-2019. Vilarva said that by the time he broke up with Santos about a year later, even though he knew by then that Santos and Vieira were married, Santos kept promising to get a divorce and marry Vilarva.

Another man, Kevin Guzman, said that he and Santos never dated, even though Santos told people they were in a relationship. He also said that he found out Santos had been using Guzman’s photo on dating apps, and that he was “so scared” of Santos.

Read ABC News’ report here.