The Republican congressman George Santos was expected to appear in court in New York state on Wednesday, on multiple federal charges concerning fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.

Related: New York congressman George Santos charged by federal prosecutors

A day after his indictment was announced, Santos surrendered to authorities at a courthouse in Central Islip, Long Island.

The US Department of Justice detailed 13 charges. The indictment says Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign. Instead, it says, he used it for personal expenses, including luxury designer clothes and to pay off his credit cards.

Since winning election to Congress in November, Santos has enjoyed a brief if highly picaresque time in the national spotlight.

The subject of a stream of reports about inaccuracies in his résumé and alleged criminal behavior, he has denied all wrongdoing. Among other matters, federal authorities had been investigating alleged campaign finance violations.

On Wednesday, the US attorney Breon Peace said the indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.

“Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”

Santos was elected after a campaign built partly on falsehoods, including that he was a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker with a substantial real estate portfolio and a star volleyball player in college. In reality, he didn’t work at the big financial firms he claimed had employed him, didn’t go to college and had struggled financially before his run for public office.

Questions about his finances surfaced. In regulatory filings, Santos said he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000, but it was unclear how he would have come into that kind of wealth after years in which he struggled to pay his rent and faced eviction proceedings.

In a financial disclosure form, Santos reporting making $750,000 a year plus dividends from a family company, the Devolder Organization. He later described that business as a broker for sales of luxury items like yachts and aircraft. The business was incorporated in Florida shortly after Santos stopped working as a salesman for a company accused by federal authorities of operating an illegal Ponzi scheme.

He has faced criminal investigations before.

When he was 19, he was the subject of a criminal investigation in Brazil over allegations he used stolen checks to buy items at a clothing shop. Brazilian authorities said they had reopened the case.

In 2017, Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania after authorities said he used thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks to buy puppies from dog breeders. That case was dismissed after Santos claimed his checkbook had been stolen, and that someone else took the dogs.

Federal authorities have been looking into complaints about Santos’s work raising money for a group that purported to help neglected and abused pets. One New Jersey veteran accused Santos of failing to deliver $3,000 he had raised to help his pet dog get a needed surgery.

As news of the indictment broke on Tuesday, Santos told the Associated Press: “This is news to me. You’re the first to call me about this.”

Many of Santos’s fellow New York Republicans have long called on him to resign. Some renewed their criticism of him as news of the criminal case spread.

“Listen, George Santos should have resigned in December,” Marc Molinaro, a Republican representing parts of upstate New York, told the AP.

“George Santos should have resigned in January. George Santos should have resigned yesterday. And perhaps he’ll resign today. But sooner or later, whether he chooses to or not, both the truth and justice will be delivered to him.”

Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who has led calls for action against Santos, issued a lengthy statement.

Santos, Torres said, “is a pathological liar and lawbreaker who lied to the voters of New York state and defrauded his way into the United States Congress.

“… Although the details of the federal prosecution are not yet fully known, one thing is crystal clear: either Santos must resign or House Republican leadership, under Speaker Kevin McCarthy, must summon the courage to join House Democrats in expelling him.

“Santos is a deep rot of corruption at the core of Congress.”

McCarthy removed Santos from committees but has not demanded his resignation, Santos having supported the Californian through 15 votes for speaker, in the face of a far-right rebellion.

On Tuesday, McCarthy said Santos would not face immediate action, saying “I think in America, you’re innocent till proven guilty” and adding: “If a person is indicted they’re not on committees. They have the right to vote but they have to go to trial.”

McCarthy pointed to previous cases of members of Congress being indicted but staying in their seat, among them Bob Menendez, the Democratic New Jersey senator acquitted on federal corruption charges who now chairs the foreign relations committee.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, called Santos “a disgrace” but said he was “not focused on George Santos right now”.

Pointing to the most pressing issue facing Congress, Jeffries said: “We’re working through trying to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt.”