CNN
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Brazil prosecutors have reached a settlement with Representative George Santos in a case in which he is accused of defrauding a Rio de Janeiro-area employee of $1,300 in clothes and shoes in 2008, documents show obtained by CNN.
A motion from Santos’ lawyer asking for a settlement says Santos would agree to formally confess to the crime and pay damages to the victim, a Rio de Janeiro-area clerk, as required by Brazilian law.
A memo from prosecutors agreeing to the deal last week asked the defense to ensure it had the opportunity to contact the victim to pay him back before the deal was finalized.
In a statement to CNN, the prosecutors’ office acknowledged the memo but stressed that the deal is not final until all conditions are met.
Santos’ lawyer’s motion, filed in January, seeks a non-prosecution agreement instead of a trial for his client, arguing that Santos is now gainfully employed and “resocialized.” The petition also requested permission for Santos to be contacted by the court by email or telephone and to participate in the proceedings by videoconference.
Agreements can be reached in non-violent cases where the minimum sentence is less than four years.
Santos had no comment when asked about this Capitol Hill report by CNN’s Manu Raju. CNN has contacted Santos’ attorneys in Brazil and the United States.
In 2010, Santos told police he wrote NSF checks from a stolen checkbook belonging to an elderly man his mother looked after to buy the items.
Santos told the New York Post in December that he had not been charged with any crime in Brazil. “I am not a criminal here – neither here nor in Brazil nor in any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. It didn’t happen,” he said at the time.
After Santos left for the United States, the Brazilian authorities could not find an address to serve him with the papers inviting him to appear in court, which ultimately led to the filing of the case, until it reopens in January.
Prosecutors were unable to comment further as the case is under a gag order.
This story has been updated with additional details.
Cnn
