He US Republican Representative George Santos, known to have committed fraud in Brazil when he was 19 years old, reached a legal settlement, judicial sources reported.

Santos, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from New York, was indicted this week on 13 counts in Brazil.

He admitted to committing fraud in 2008 with a stolen checkbook in the state of Rio de Janeiro, a spokeswoman for the Brazilian court where the case is taking place said by email.

To avoid a criminal trial, Santos agreed to pay about $5,000 in fines and damages, the source added.

The 34-year-old lawmaker, the son of Brazilian immigrants and serving his first term in the US Congress, he was already embroiled in a scandal in the United States for fabricating much of his biography.

Fraud in Brazil

In the South American country, he paid about $700 at a shop in Niteroi, a city near Rio de Janeiro, with the checkbook of a deceased elderly man who had been cared for by his mother.

As part of the agreement, he agreed to pay a fine of 10,000 reais (about $2,030), plus inflation-adjusted damages of 14,121 reais (about $2,865) to the merchant who sold him the products, the spokeswoman for the company said. criminal court in the state of Niteroi.

Santos appeared for a closed-door hearing via WhatsApp video call on Thursday and has a month to comply with the agreement.

This is just the latest court setback for the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress, whose lies made him the target of humorists and landed him in major legal trouble in the United States.

Santos was arrested Wednesday and charged by US prosecutors with bank fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the House of Representatives.

The legislature pleaded not guilty and he was released on $500,000 bail.

fake resume

He is accused of stealing money from donors who contributed to his campaign, lying about financial statements and collecting unemployment benefits while making $120,000 a year at an investment firm.

The congressman also admitted to lying about much of his story.including his supposed college degree, jobs at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, or his Jewish religion.

The case of fraud in Brazil was archived for years because detectives couldn’t find him. But the charges were reinstated after Santos was elected to Congress with permanent address last year.