An attorney friend of Rep. George Santos who helped him fight charges that he wrote several bad checks in 2017 now says she no longer believes the embattled New York congressman's claim that he was innocent.
Santos was charged with theft after multiple bad checks to dog breeders in Pennsylvania were written in his name, according to attorney Tiffany Bogosian, who said she helped Santos with the case in 2020.
Santos claimed the nine checks, which together amounted to over $15,000, came from a checkbook of his that had been stolen, according to documents Bogosian provided to ABC News. Copies of the checks showed the word "puppies" written in the memo field.
Bogosian, a New York personal injury lawyer who told ABC News she first met Santos in middle school, said she briefly helped Santos with the case after authorities served him an extradition warrant in February 2020. Bogosian said she only helped Santos informally, since she could not represent him in Pennsylvania.
In response to the warrant, Bogosian informed a Pennsylvania state trooper of Santos' claim that a checkbook of his had gone missing, according to emails Bogosian provided to ABC News.
U.S. Rep. George Santos leaves the Capitol Hill Club as members of the press follow him, Jan. 31, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE
"In 2017 he received four check books for the account at his request from the TD BANK branch he banked with in Queens, NY, and of the four one went missing. He immediately called his bank upon learning 1 [of the] 4 check books was missing and all checks were canceled at that time, with a stop pay on all checks," Bogosian said in the email.
The charges against Santos were later dropped and the case later expunged from Pennsylvania records.
Following recent revelations that Santos fabricated multiple aspects of his biography, Bogosian now says she no longer believes Santos' initial claims regarding the checks.
The charges against Santos were first reported by Politico.
When contacted about the charges, Santos' congressional office referred ABC News to the congressman's current attorney, who did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the York County, Pennsylvania, district attorney's office, Kyle King, said he could not confirm or deny the expungement of the charges against Santos.
