Only Fans, Sephora, alleged fraud: The life and lies of George Santos

Analysis: The US witnessed something rare today – an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives voting to kick out one of their colleagues.

George Santos, a young Republican from the third congressional district of New York, was only elected late last year, but it did not take long for reporters, colleagues – or, frankly, anyone – to realise much of his CV and backstory were lies.

He said he had experience working on Wall St. That was largely inflated.

He owned 13 properties. He doesn’t.

His Jewish family fled Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. They didn’t.

He was Jewish. He’s not (his family is Catholic and, when pushed on this, he said he actually said he was "Jew-ish").

His mother was in one of the Twin Towers during 9/11. She wasn’t.

The list is long.

Unfortunately for Santos, that was only the start.

Recently, the House Ethics Committee released a scathing report, that alleged he was fraudulently using his candidacy to enrich himself personally.

It found purchases – allegedly using campaign funds – for luxury goods, purchases at makeup store Sephora, and trips to Las Vegas (the expenses were when he said he was there on holiday with his partner). The committee also uncovered payments to Only Fans – a website known for pornography.

Santos is also facing – and fighting – 23 federal charges.

Today he was expelled from the House of Representatives by a super-majority vote – more than two-thirds of members needed to support the motion. More than that did.

A rare show of bipartisanship, one might say.

The question many are asking now is how on earth did he get elected?

It's a spectacular fall from grace for someone once thought of a rising star in the Republican Party – young, LGBTQIA+ (not so common in the GOP), and energetic.

However, it ended up being a very short – and very scandalous – political career.