The House Ethics panel said Thursday it has found substantial evidence of violations of the law by Republican Rep. George Santos of New York and has referred its findings to the Justice Department.

The committee said Santos’ conduct warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of office and has brought serious disrepute to the House.

Santos has maintained his innocence and refused to resign despite calls to do so from many of his colleagues.

The panel said Santos knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; and engaged in violations of the Ethics in Government Act regarding financial disclosure statements filed with the House of Representatives.

The ethics panel report also details Santos’ lack of cooperation in the investigation and the way he evaded simple requests for information.

According to the committee, the information he did provide contained material inaccuracies that further highlighted the falsehoods he expressed during his 2022 campaign.

The report says an investigative subcommittee decided to refrain from filing formal charges because doing so would have resulted in a lengthy trial-like public hearing and sanctions, which would only have given Santos more opportunity to exact any liability set. The committee has decided to send the full report to Parliament.

It urges Members of the House to take whatever action they deem appropriate and necessary based on the report.

The investigative panel’s findings are perhaps the least of Santos’ worries. The congressman is facing a 23-count federal indictment that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Federal prosecutors say Santos transferred some of the money to his personal bank account and used the rest to fill his campaign coffers.

Santos, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Commission that he

lent lent

his campaign $500,000, even though he had actually given nothing and had less than $8,000 in the bank. The bogus loan was an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate worthy of their financial support, the indictment said.

Santos easily survived a vote earlier this month to expel him from the House of Representatives, as most Republicans and 31 Democrats opted to suspend the sentence while both his criminal trial and the House Ethics Committee investigation continued.