After being ousted from the House of Representatives last week, ex-congressman George Santos has officially joined Cameo, the platform famous for custom messages from celebrities and influencers.
Though Santos has not yet posted anything to his Cameo profile, it advertises a selection of personally-recorded pep talks, “gossip,” roasts, and advice messages from Santos himself. These video messages, all promised to be delivered within 24 hours of an order, were initially priced at $75, but the cost has since increased to $200.
A former Santos staffer confirmed to WIRED on Monday that the profile was real, and it is now linked on the ex-representative’s personal X account. Cameo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After winning his Long Island congressional election last year, problems mounted for Santos after the North Shore Leader and the New York Times reported that he allegedly lied about his finances and much of his personal background, like where he went to college and having worked for Goldman Sachs. More absurd lies were uncovered, involving claims that his mother died as a result of 9/11 (she didn’t) and that Santos was the star of Baruch College’s volleyball team (he wasn’t, and also didn’t attend Baruch).
In May, Santos was charged on multiple federal counts of money laundering, identity theft, and theft of public funds. He is set to face trial next September.
Despite these charges, Santos wasn’t expelled until after the House Ethics Committee finished its own investigation in November and claimed that he misused thousands of dollars in campaign donations. The report said that Santos spent $50,000 in campaign funds to pay off personal debts and made other unlawful purchases, like subscribing to creators on OnlyFans. Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has also accused Santos of defrauding him and his mother by charging their personal credit cards.
Santos isn’t the first politician to join the ranks of Chuck Norris, Tay Zonday, and Brian Baumgartner of “The Office” fame on Cameo: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and political consultant Roger Stone have their own profiles, both touting nearly five star ratings.
The Biden campaign has also experimented with Cameo in the past. In 2020, the campaign partnered with the platform to allow participating celebrities, like Andy Cohen, Mandy Moore, and Melissa Etheridge, to earmark portions of their earnings as donations, according to The Verge.
Until Santos goes to trial, it’s impossible to know if his donors will ever claw back the money his campaign allegedly stole from them. But unlike Santos’s reported donor fraud, Cameo has a money back guarantee for scams.
