George Santos used fake Jewish name on GoFundMe because he thought 'Jews will give more,' former roommate says

• George Santos used a fake Jewish last name to raise money on GoFundMe, a former roommate told CNN.
• The former roommate told CNN that Santos said using the name would encourage Jews to "give more."

A former roommate of Rep. George Santos said the embattled congressman used a Jewish-sounding last name to try to raise money for a questionable GoFundMe page.

Gregory Morey-Parker, who previously lived with Santos, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday that Santos used several aliases during their time as roommates.

Morey-Parker said he primarily knew Santos, who has listed his full name as George Anthony Devolder Santos, as Anthony Devolder.

But the former roommate said Santos also referred to himself as Anthony Zabrovsky, a name the now New York congressman reserved for a GoFundMe venture called Friends of Pets United.

Zabrovsky and variations of the name are common among Ashkenazi Jews.

Morey-Parker told CNN: "He would say, 'Oh well, the Jews will give more if you're a Jew.' And so that's the name he used for his GoFundMe."

Santos' claim to be Jewish is one of many lies that have landed him in hot water in recent weeks.

During his 2022 campaign, Santos called himself a "proud American Jew" in a memo sent to pro-Israel groups, and he said in media appearances that his grandparents were Holocaust survivors.

CNN reported in late December that conversations with several genealogists had disproved the Holocaust-ancestry claim, and the Republican Jewish Coalition said that month that Santos had "personally" deceived its members about being Jewish.

Santos later told the New York Post that he is Catholic and only claimed to be "Jew-ish."

Reports of Santos' questionable efforts to boost his GoFundMe fundraising came as a military veteran accused him of taking $3,000 worth of GoFundMe funds meant for his dying dog.

Speaking to the local news outlet Patch, Rich Osthoff said that his dog Sapphire was dying from a stomach tumor and that Santos offered to help, starting a GoFundMe page for him in May 2016.

But Osthoff told Patch that after the money was raised, Santos closed the fundraising page and ghosted him.

Santos pushed back on Osthoff's accusation. "Fake," he told the news outlet Semafor in a text message. "No clue who this is."

The New York Times reported last month that while Santos claimed to have founded Friends of Pets United in 2013, there appeared to be no records of it having been registered as a legitimate charity.

Santos has admitted to fabricating parts of his life story, including his university education and elements of his employment history. He has refused to resign.

Santos did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.