Rep. George Santos must reveal names of relatives who helped secure his $500,000 bail, judge rules
Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) is followed by members of the media at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Credit: Getty Images / Tasos Katopodis via TNS
The names of the family members of indicted Long Island Rep. George Santos who agreed to co-sign his $500,000 bond in his money laundering and wire fraud case will be made public Thursday, a federal judge has ruled.
"All previously sealed documents, including the bond, are to be unsealed to the extent that the names of [Santos'] suretors are to be disclosed," U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said in a Tuesday order.
The judge's decision comes in response to an appeal by Santos' lawyer after a successful legal push by more than a dozen news outlets, including Newsday, for the names of those who co-signed Santos's bond to be unsealed.
The names of bond co-signers are part of the public record in criminal cases. But Santos' attorney, Joseph Murray, sought to seal the records.
After news organizations challenged that initial ruling, Murray said his client would rather be incarcerated pretrial than reveal the names of two family members who agreed to co-sign his bond. Murray had also argued the co-signers would face harassment.
Murray could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
But Seybert sided with the media's push for transparency and established precedent that proceedings in the nation's court systems are generally public. Federal prosecutors remained neutral on the issue.
Seybert said the bond documents will be kept sealed until noon Thursday in order to give Santos time to "modify the conditions of his release, should the Suretors seek to withdraw from serving as suretors."
If that were to occur, Santos would have to find new bond co-signers. If he were unable to, Santos' bond would be revoked and he would be taken into federal custody.
The first-term Republican congressman pleaded not guilty in May to seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos, who separately admitted lying about his education and other aspects of his background, allegedly orchestrated a series of schemes while running for Congress, including ripping off political donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits authorized under COVID-19 even though he had a job, and lying on his congressional financial disclosure forms.
Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to appear back in federal court in Central Islip on June 30.
Investigations into Santos began after The New York Times revealed he had lied about much of his work history and background. Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Nassau and Queens, has repeatedly refused calls to resign.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
