Law enforcement officials in Brazil will reinstate fraud charges against the first openly gay Republican elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. George Santos.

The 34-year-old Brazilian immigrant was born in New York, and during the midterm election campaign, he said he was working to “fight the radical left” that threatens “the American Dream”.

According to the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office to CNN, the demand would now be for a “formal response” from Santos related to a stolen checkbook in 2008, after police suspended an investigation into him because they could not find him for nearly a decade.

“A spokesperson for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, said that with Santos’ whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him”, according to The New York Times.

Despite his earlier confessions, Santos has recently denied any criminal involvement, telling the New York Post, “I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world”.

Santos’ swearing-in Tuesday as the representative of New York’s 3rd Congressional District was already set to take place amid a cloud of scrutiny.

“Last week, irregularities in Santos’ campaign spending emerged, including $40,000 on flights and payments for rent that are linked to an address where Santos is reported to be staying, a possible violation of the ban on using campaign funds for personal expenses”, according to The Times.

CNN sought details of other information Santos reported about his college education and employment history and uncovered even more lies, including allegations that he was forced to leave a Private New York school when his family’s real estate assets took a downturn and that he represented Goldman Sachs at a top financial conference. Santos claims that his grandparents fled the Holocaust as Ukrainian Jewish refugees and that his mother died as a result of being present in the South Tower during 9/11 have also come under scrutiny, CNN’s KFile found”.

According to CNN, in interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post on December 26, “Santos admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University as well as misrepresenting his employment at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but said at the time he still intended to serve in Congress”.

“The next step for Brazilian prosecutors is to file a petition when the courts reopen […] requesting that Santos respond to the charges against him. A judge would then share the request, called a rogatory letter, with the federal Justice Ministry in Brazil, which would share it with the U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the Justice Department nor Brazilian authorities can compel Santos to respond at this point. But Santos must be officially notified in order for the case to proceed”, according to The New York Times.

If Santos does not present a defense in the Brazilian case, he will be tried in absentia. If found guilty, Santos could receive up to five years in prison, plus a fine.

A criminal conviction, even for a felony, is not on its own an act that would disqualify a congressional member from holding office. The last time a member of Congress was removed from office for breaking the law was in 2002, when James Traficant Jr. was removed from the House after his conviction on felony racketeering and corruption charges.

On the campaign trail, Santos’ lawyer, Joe Murray, said in a statement to CNN that “The suggestion that the Santos campaign engaged in any unlawful spending of campaign funds is irresponsible, at best”.