Former New York Congressman George Santos is adding fuel to the controversy stemming from accusations of corruption among Republican Party officials in Suffolk County, New York.

In July, Suffolk County GOP legislators, without public notice or warning, suddenly awarded a legal notices contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to a competing newspaper owned by a fellow Republican official.

According to the Suffolk Reporter, former Congressman Santos called Suffolk County Republican Chairman Jesus “Jesse” Garcia a “corrupt chairman who uses his position to gain power and influence over people.”

Santos told the Suffolk Reporter that Garcia pressured candidates like him by encouraging him to place a “close female friend of the Chairman” on his payroll.

In order to gain Garcia’s endorsement for his 2022 Congressional campaign, Santos said he was pressured to hire Garcia’s close female friend Karin Murphy of Campaign Strategy & Consulting as a fundraising consultant for his finance committee.

Santos said that Murphy’s position was a “no-show” job that paid her firm $3500 per month.

According to Santos, Garcia asked him: “Why don’t you hire her?”

Santos said, “His intention was crystal clear. This was no ‘wink and a nod.’ It was ‘she’s close to me. Hire her.’ I wonder how often this happened on public payrolls? Law enforcement most definitely takes theft of public services quite seriously.”

Federal Elections Commission reports show that Santos’ finance committee paid Murphy $22,000 between February and July of 2021 for fundraising consulting and social media. Santos maintains that Murphy was rarely available and would often send an assistant to handle events or participate in conference calls.

Santos said he encourages investigators to determine if Garcia’s influence was used to land Murphy on other candidates’ payrolls in order to secure the chairman’s endorsement.

Garcia, when asked to respond to Santos’ allegations but instead attacked the former Congressman’s character saying, “Any so-called media outlet that hires George Santos, or is used to spread his continuous lies, in any capacity has no credibility whatsoever in the world of journalism.”

Santos was expelled from Congress last year and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in August.

The investigation continues into allegations of corruption by Suffolk County GOP officials over the awarding of the newspaper advertising contract.