George Santos celebrated engagement to a man while he was married to a woman, report says

Mr Santos remained married to his wife until five years after the engagement announcement

Graig Graziosi
Saturday 21 January 2023 20:25 GMT
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Related video: House oversight chair James Comer calls George Santos ‘despicable’ amid scandal

A new report has found that while Republican Congressman George Santos was reportedly still married to a woman, he invited friends over to celebrate his engagement to a man.

In a 2014 Facebook "engagement dinner" invitation, Mr Santos — or Anthony Devolder, depending on the day — invited his friends to celebrate his engagement to someone who wasn’t his wife, The Daily Beast reports.

"Good evening everyone! As you all may already know Pedro and I have decided to join our toothbrushes! Lol and a very few friends have been selected to share this special moment with us," Mr Santos wrote in the invitation.

Mr Santos and his wife would not divorce until five years later.

The Daily Beast learned of the invitation from Mr Santos’ old roommate, Greg Morey-Parker. Pedro Vilarva, the man mentioned in the invitation, also confirmed that Mr Santos planned the celebration.

Mr Santos asked his friends to "join us on Sunday, 23 November at 8:30pm at La Bonne Soupe," a restaurant in Manhattan.

“I hope to see everyone [sic] of you there and be sharp and make it count," he wrote, including a winking face emoji. "I know there was no time for an written [sic] invitation but thanks to ‘Facebook’ everyone has a whole weeks [sic] notice! Lmao for all of you that know me I can suck on timing! Thanks for sharing this very important day in our lives! See you all there!"

Mr Vilarva told the publication that the engagement party "never happened" because he rejected Mr Santos’ marriage proposals.

"He asked me 3x but I didn’t accept it," Mr Vilarva told The Daily Beast in a text message. "There was never a party [or] anything in regards to it."

The Independent has reached out to Mr Santos for comment.

Mr Morey-Parker also told the publication that Mr Santos allegedly encouraged him to marry a Brazilian woman so she could get US citizenship, and mentioned he could make money on the deal.

Mr Morey-Parker, who knew Mr Santos by his other name, Anthony Devolder, said the Republican’s ever-growing list of lies are making gay conservatives "look bad."

"I’m a gay Republican — a Reagan Republican, but I did vote for Trump in 2016," he told the outlet. "Can you imagine how he’s making the Log Cabin Republicans feel? He’s making all of us look bad."

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