Republican US representative George Santos has been charged with fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, the Justice Department
has said.

The US politician, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, was expected to appear later in the day at a federal court in New York.

He has been charged on 13 counts including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the DOJ.

Federal prosecutors have been examining false statement allegations in Santos’ campaign filings.

The US politician is at the centre of a web of extraordinary revelations and accusations covering everything from his heritage to jobs he simply never held.

Described by critics as a “total fraud”, he is accused of fabricating parts of his CV while running for Congress.

Shortly after the 34-year-old congressman was elected in November, a New York Times investigation found a number of false claims he made on his CV about his personal and professional history.

Among other claims, Santos said he had degrees from New York University and Baruch College, despite neither institution’s having any record of his attending.

He claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which also was untrue.

Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, has since admitted to “embellishing” parts of his resume.