Feds probing Santos' role in service dog charity scheme - POLITICO

Joshua Schiller, a senior trial lawyer who has practiced in the Eastern District, said the veteran’s encounter with Santos could offer prosecutors a quick way to hit the Republican congressman with criminal charges even though they’re also investigating heftier possible financial crimes.

Anthony Devolder, who ran Friends of Pets United, promised to help Osthoff get a tumor removed from his dog’s stomach, the veteran said.

Devolder, a version of Santos’ full name he used before entering politics, set up the GoFundMe account and promoted it on social media saying, “When a veteran reaches out to ask for help, how can you say no?” according to screenshots of the postings.

Osthoff says Santos deliberately used his story of being a homeless disabled veteran with a sickly service dog to extract donations, then took off with the funds, leaving him unable to afford Sapphire’s surgery.

Friends of Pets United was not a registered charity, The New York Times reported in December when it first broke the story that Santos had fabricated much of his campaign biography.

Osthoff said the New York Attorney General’s Office Public Integrity Bureau, which handles fraud and criminal inquiries into elected officials, began investigating the GoFundMe drive last month.