Texas man charged with trying to scam George Santos

An FBI affidavit states that Hector Medina Jr – an El Paso, Texas resident who also goes by Michael Soto – devised a “scheme to defraud certain publicly known persons facing criminal exposure.” He was charged in the Eastern District of New York.

Mr Medina Jr allegedly approached individuals who were facing criminal charges and claimed he could cause their “criminal exposure to disappear in exchange for large sums of money,” the affidavit states.

The filing listed four high-profile figures, including Mr Santos, who is not named but identified as “Individual-1” who represented New York’s third congressional district. In 2023, Mr Santos was accused of stealing his donors’ credit cards and wire fraud, among other charges before being expelled from Congress.

Mr Medina Jr sent videos and texts offering his services, the charging document states.