A political candidate who bowed out of the Minneapolis City Council race is being called a fraud and some people are even calling for a criminal investigation.

In an exclusive interview with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the 23-year-old former candidate for Minneapolis City Council admits he lied to campaign donors, volunteers and supporters.

Charles Carlson burst onto the political scene in December. The University of Minnesota grad student with a British accent announced his campaign for Minneapolis City Council.

"As a candidate I believed strongly what he stood for," said Kyle Archer, one of Carlson's advisors.

Archer was Carlson's advisor until this week, when Carlson's history caught up to him.

"There are a lot of people that put a lot of trust, manpower, money and belief into this person who we now find out is a complete fraud," Archer said.

According to supporters, Carlson was born in England, went to Princeton University and even refereed tennis matches at the Bejing Olympics, but Carlson admitted to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that he lied. Carlson says a serious diagnosis with mental illness led him to lie.

"My brain when it's not medicated can manipulate facts so that I believe them," Carlson said. "I am very sorry for what I've said."

Now, without the British accent, Carlson told us he'll address his supporters after he gets himself help. We asked him what he intends to do with the $1,700 in donations he collected for his campaign.

"We do hope to refund the money to people who asked for it back," Carlson said. "I never meant for this to happen like this and I'm very sorry for everything that's happened. My goal was to make life better for the city of Minneapolis and I'm very sorry it turned out like this."

One donor sent a letter to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman asking him to look into the matter for criminal charges. Freeman's office has not yet launched an investigation.