It Looks Like George Santos Lied About Helping Kids Sick With a Rare Disease

Epidermolysis bullosa, or EB, is a rare and serious genetic disorder affecting the skin—so rare, in fact, that only a small handful of charities work with people living with the disease. People who work in this world, it’s safe to say, tend to know one another. The person they say they do not know—except, now, by the reputation he’s laboriously created over the last few months—is Congressman George Santos. 

Early versions of Santos’ campaign website claimed that he and his family “engaged in helping children with EB.” Organizations representing EB patients, though, told VICE News they have no records of Santos or his parents ever making any charitable donations to them, or doing any other form of advocacy, ever. 

Santos made the EB claim on his campaign website as recently as November 2020, according to reporting from the Washington Post. In full, the claim at that time read: 

This was news to Brett Kopelan, the executive director of debra of America, the U.S. arm of DEBRA International, a global consortium of organizations working on behalf of people with EB. Kopelan is also a past president of DEBRA International, lobbies on behalf of EB patients, and is familiar, in his words, with “all the global EB charities.”

“I was not aware of George Santos making any claim to have volunteered or donated to any EB charity globally,” he told VICE News. “In our database and general records, we have nothing showing any volunteerism or any charitable donations in his or his family’s names.” 

The natural next best candidate would be SOS EB Kids, which cares for and advocates for children with EB in Brazil, where Santos’ parents were born, and where Santos is now facing a renewed investigation over charges of alleged check fraud. A spokesperson for the organization told VICE News, “We searched our records and did not find any donations from Mr. George Santos, Mrs. Fatima Devolder or Mr. Junior Santos.” 

As the Post reported, Santos—or whoever made his website—at some point removed the highly specific EB claim entirely. It was replaced with language about him supporting “other organizations that help at-risk children and America’s veterans.” 

All of this fits in with what you could call, with a degree of understatement, a broader pattern: Santos has an established track record of lying about his background, his accomplishments, his education, his religion, his mother’s death, and whether his grandparents fled the Holocaust. He is facing a long list of colorful legal issues in both the U.S. and Brazil, but has not been criminally charged or indicted in any jurisdiction in either country. 

Santos’ congressional office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Santos’ personal attorney Joe Murray told VICE News, “As you can imagine, there's a number of investigations or at least reported investigations. It seems like every prosecutor within the area has announced some type of investigation, although none of them have called me. So it would be inappropriate to comment.” 

In addition to being his personal attorney, Murray was one of Santos’ first donors, and considers him a friend. He told VICE News that as a congressman, Santos is “overcompensating with sunlight and transparency and showing that everything he does is above board. He is, I think, going out of his way to make sure everything is 100 percent ethical.”