WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Prior to the House of Representatives' vote to expel George Santos on Friday, a Northeast Ohio congressman claimed he had been defrauded by the New York Republican.
In a note to his fellow GOP members of Congress, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH-7) revealed that the Santos campaign had "charged my personal credit card - and the personal credit card of my Mother - for contribution amounts that had exceeded FEC limits."
Miller says neither he nor his mother had approved the charges or were aware of them.
Santos was expelled by the House on Friday by a vote of 311-114.
In an interview with CNN's Manu Raji after the vote, Miller said that "Mr. Santos took not only my credit card personally, but he took my mother's card personally and he swiped them both for an additional $5,000, marking it as an 'overdonation.'"
"We have spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in the resulting follow up," Miller added in his note.
Santos' departure comes amid a scathing House Ethics Committee report that accused him of breaking federal law. A 56-page report by the committee detailed allegations of deceiving his donors, filing false campaign statements, and using campaign money to fund his lavish lifestyle. That included using funds for Botox injections.
In the meantime, Santos faces a 23-count federal indictment charging him with crimes such as wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors accuse Santos of charging more than $44,000 to his campaign over a period of months using cards belonging to contributors without their knowledge.
"I've seen a list of roughly 400 other people to whom the Santos campaign allegedly did this (illegally charging credit cards)," Miller stated. "I believe some other members of this conference (House Republicans) might have had the same experience."
In the long history of the United States House of Representatives, only five previous members had been expelled before Santos. Three of those expelled were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War.
The last House expulsion came in 2002. Jim Traficant from Ohio's 17th Congressional District was expelled after being convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, defraud U.S., receipt of illegal gratuities, obstruction of justice, filing false tax returns, and racketeering.
The outspoken nine-term Democrat from Youngstown spent seven years in federal prison and died in 2014 at the age of 73. Much like Santos, Traficant fought to stay in Congress until the bitter end. He once said he wanted to fight his accusers like "a junkyard dog."
The Associated Press contributed to this report