Received widespread criticism after he claimed that his mother, who died in 2016, was a financial executive who worked at the World Trade Center and was a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Santos later said he meant that she was "caught up in the ash cloud" and died years later from complications. Investigations later found his mother worked as a housekeeper and nurse and was last employed in 1994. Immigration records showed that she was living in Brazil at the time of the attacks.