Latest George Santos bombshell involves beefy Italian thug and $200K hidden in walls of luxury yacht

Another day, another truly bizarre story involving embattled GOP congressman/fugitive in Brazil George Santos.

The Daily Beast reports that the openly gay, Jew-ish 34-year-old, who is currently under investigation for multiple campaign finance violations, accepted money from a beefy Italian national who appears to have made his fortune by smuggling undocumented migrants into the United States.

Seriously, you can’t make this sh*t up.

Rocco Oppedisano gave $500 to the Santos’ campaign last September. In 2019, he was stopped by the US Coast Guard while sailing a 63-foot luxury yacht from The Bahamas to Golden Beach, Florida.

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Oppedisano claimed to be the only one on board, but a search uncovered an additional 14 undocumented Chinese migrants, a Bahamian national, and, wait for it, $200,000 stuffed into the wall of Oppedisano’s bedroom.

According to court records, Oppedisano was charged and later pleaded guilty to smuggling people into the country for monetary gain.

But it doesn’t stop there.

He was also charged with illegally trying to re-enter the United States after having his permanent resident status revoked in 2019 following a drug and firearms bust at a house he was staying at back in 2009. (He pled not guilty to that charge.)

The fact that Santos accepted a single penny from this guy is deeply ironic given his hardline stance on illegal immigration. It’s also very illegal. Federal law prohibits campaign contributions or donations from foreign nationals to US political campaigns.

Of course, because this is George Santos we’re talking about, the story gets even weirder.

According to the Daily Beast, Oppedisano’s brother and niece run an Italian eatery in Little Neck, New York called Il Bacco where Santos’ campaign dropped more than $25,000 during his first run for Congress back in 2020.

Records show that many of the receipts from the restaurant came in at exactly $199.99, exactly one penny shy of the amount that would require the campaign to keep documentation of the transactions.

“The sheer number of these just-under-$200 disbursements is implausible, and some payments appear to be impossible given the nature of the item or service covered,” the non-partisan group Campaign Legal Center said in a civil complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission earlier this week.

Speaking to Talking Points Memo on Tuesday, an unnamed former Santos’ staffer said they noticed “weird, weird things” going on with his campaign’s finances but never said anything.

“I don’t know why we were at Il Bacco all the time. It didn’t seem like we needed to be doing that,” the staffer said, adding that they wouldn’t be surprised if Santos is “perp walked” out of Congress.

“Lying on your resume is one thing,” they said. “But I think George is going to be perp walked out of a building because of this financial mess.”

This week, House “Speaker” Kevin McCarthy said Santos will remain in office, despite growing calls from within the GOP that he resign, saying, “He has to answer to voters and the voters will make another decision in two years.” Santos has already said he does not plan to seek reelection in 2024.

Related: George Santos: “I have done nothing unethical”