A US congressman accused of money laundering, lying about his past, and stealing campaign funds to pay for everything from luxury holidays to Botox treatment has been expelled by the House of Representatives. An Ethics report said that Congressman George Santosh had exploited every aspect of his role for personal financial profit. The story has gripped America, as Gary O'Donoghue reports from Washington.

I will go to Washington to fight for the American dream.

A first-generation son of Brazilian immigrants, George Santos's version of the American dream has turned him into a laughing stock, Fodder for.

Late-night comedians. Because I was the first openly gay, Jewish, Republican, Latino to walk on the moon. Do you have a problem?

In fact, the dream was one long series of overinflated and fictitious tales ending with today's ignominious exit from Congress.

Well, good.

Morning, everybody. With that goes a comfortable pension and a £138,000 salary. This is bullying. But George Santos is far from.

A victim. When I first started in my career at City Group, I was told, Oh, you're a really smart guy.

He lied about working on Wall Street. He lied about attending prestigious universities. He even claimed falsely his grandparents escaped the Holocaust and that his mother died from the effects of being in the World Trade Center on 9/11. She was, in fact, in Brazil.

I'm very proud of my.

Jewish heritage. After claiming to be a proud American Jew, he produced perhaps the most jaw-drop of all his explanations. I'm Catholic.

But I'm also Jew-ish. As in ish. I'm Jew-ish.

Can you tell us the details of your alleged assassination attempt?

But more than the lies, it was the alleged crimes that kept piling up that did for him. He's facing 23 criminal charges, among them multiple counts of wire fraud, two counts of identity theft, three of money laundering and lying to Congress. All designed, say, prosecutors, to enrich himself, and some of it spent on Botox, fancy clothes, and subscriptions to the only fan's website. He denies all the charges.

It's just the sixth time in the 234-year history of the House of Representatives that a member has been expelled. And in a country that's become used to its leaders talking about so-called alternate facts and subjective truths, George Santos' downfall is perhaps surprising.

The New York constituents who voted him in, now not.

So sure. I think he's a crook, and I'm glad that he's no longer going to be serving in Congress.

Not an extraordinary thing for a politician to lie, but there's got to be some truth sometime.

The now former congressman could face years in prison if convicted.

This American dream looks.

Set for less than a happy ending. Gary O'Donoghue, BBC News, Washington.