In the race to replace George Santos, financial questions arise again

The Republican candidate in a special House election to replace George Santos in New York gave vague insight into her personal finances this week, submitting a sworn financial statement to Congress that raised questions and prompted her to change the filing.

The little-known candidate, Mazi Pilip, reported between $1 million and $5.2 million in assets, largely consisting of her husband's medical practice and Bitcoin investments. In an unusual revelation, she said the couple owed as much as $250,000 last year and later paid it back to the IRS.

But the first financial report Ms. Pilip filed with the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday and appears to be missing other key required information, including whether the assets were owned solely by herself or her husband, Dr. Adalbert Pilip, or whether they were jointly owned.

And despite making statements from the past that she stopped working there in 2021 when she ran for the Nassau County Legislature, Ms. Pilip reported receiving a $50,000 salary from the family practice in 2022 and 2023.

The inconsistencies appeared nowhere near the level of Mr. Santos' widespread misstatements, prompting federal prosecutors to charge him with falsifying congressional records before he was expelled. But after questions from The New York Times, Ms. Pilip materially changed the statement on Friday.

The updated paperwork announced for the first time that she had a statutory pension; identified her husband as the sole owner of the medical practice, New York Comprehensive Medical Care; and previously disclosed unreported investments and liabilities, including at least $50,000 in medical school loans for Dr. Pilip.

Ms. Pilip also revised her earned income and reported that she earned much less from the medical practice: $13,472 in 2022 and nothing in 2023. (She earned $80,000 as a local lawmaker.)

Her campaign downplayed the initial omissions as innocent mistakes by a team working on a reduced schedule before next month's special election.

Brian Devine, a spokesman for her campaign, said Saturday that the initial report was “a preliminary draft that was inadvertently submitted prior to the final review by Mazi's finance team.”

Ethics experts said the changes warranted further investigation. All candidates for the House of Representatives must file annual disclosure forms proving that the information is “true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief,” subject to risk of prosecution.

“The canary in the mine could be discrepancies in their financial statements,” said Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center.

Ms. Pilip's Democratic opponent, Tom Suozzi, filed his own report on Friday with an income of more than $600,000 in 2023 as a consultant and board member of Global Industrial Corp., a Long Island-based industrial supply company.

Mr. Suozzi also earned $35,000 from Hercules Pharmaceuticals, a Long Island drug wholesaler.

He revealed assets worth between $4.2 million and $6.3 million, much of which was tied up in real estate investments. Mr. Suozzi also owns stakes in summer camps owned by Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York Democratic Party, which paid dividends worth between $100,000 and $1 million. (The House of Representatives disclosure forms ask filers to disclose assets within a range, making it difficult to determine exact values.)

Unlike Ms. Suozzi, a former congresswoman and county executive, Ms. Pilip is relatively unknown in the swing district of Queens and Nassau County. She was born in Ethiopia and was a refugee in Israel before moving to the United States and winning a seat in the Nassau County Legislature in 2021.

Most of Mrs. Pilip's wealth appears to be tied up in her husband's medical businesses, which paid the couple between $100,000 and $1 million in dividends last year. She has said she worked as an operations manager in his primary practice before entering politics.

In copies of 2022 and 2023 Financial Disclosure Forms filed with the Nassau County Board of Ethics and obtained by The Times, Ms. Pilip provided information inconsistent with her federal disclosure.

Ms. Pilip reported working for her husband's practice both years, describing her role primarily as marketing in 2022 and administrative in 2023. Salary information was redacted.

The Nassau forms show several investments that Ms. Pilip did not disclose in her filing with Congress, including Dr. Pilip's ownership of Infuse Chi Inc., described as a “health drink start-up company”; an entity called Medsched; and Pilip Medical Treatments, a “medical treatment facility.”

Mr. Devine said the companies were not included in the congressional report because they “didn't get off the ground and have no value.”

Ms. Pilip reported liabilities to the IRS on both the 2022 and 2023 local financial forms. The amounts have been redacted; On the house forms, she reported that the couple owed between $100,000 and $250,000 as of 2023.

Candidates for the House of Representatives are not required to file tax returns. Mr. Devine said the couple had paid what they owed to the IRS but voluntarily reported it out of “an abundance of transparency.”

“They are on a quarterly schedule for estimated tax payments,” he said, explaining the liability. “Their revenues exceeded expected amounts, requiring them to make additional payments, which they did.”

Public records reveal no tax liens for Ms. Pilip or her husband corresponding to the liability.