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CNN
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Prosecutors in Brazil have agreed to a deal with Rep. George Santos in a case in which he is accused of defrauding a Rio de Janeiro area clerk of $1,300 over clothes and shoes in 2008, documents obtained by CNN show.
A petition from Santos’ attorney requesting a deal says Santos would agree to formally confess to the crime and pay damages to the victim, a Rio de Janeiro area clerk, as is required under Brazilian law.
A memo from prosecutors agreeing to the deal last week asked the defense for assurances they have the ability to contact the victim to repay him before the deal is finalized.
The petition from Santos’ attorney, filed in January, requests a non-prosecutorial agreement in lieu of a trial for his client, arguing that Santos is now gainfully employed and “re-socialized.” The petition also requested permission for Santos to be contacted by the court via email or phone, and participate in the proceedings via videoconference.
Agreements can be reached in non-violent cases where the sentencing minimum is under four years.
Santos did not comment when asked about this reporting on Capitol Hill by CNN’s Manu Raju. CNN has reached out to attorneys for Santos in Brazil and the United States.
In 2010, Santos told police he wrote bad checks from a stolen checkbook belonging to an elderly man his mother cared for to purchase the items.
Santos told the New York Post in December he had not been charged with any crime in Brazil. “I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen,” he said at the time.
After Santos left for the United States, Brazilian authorities could not find an address to serve him papers intimating him to appear in court, which eventually led to the archiving of the case, until it was reopened in January.
Prosecutors could not comment further, as the case is under a gag order.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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