By The secret identities of Republican Rep. George Santos’ bail backers in his federal criminal case were revealed to be members of his family, court filings showed Thursday.
Gercino dos Santos, the congressman’s father, and Elma Preven, his aunt, had guaranteed the $500,000 bond that allowed the scandal-plagued House freshman to walk free after his arraignment on 13 criminal counts last month.
The congressman had sought to keep his family members’ identities hidden from public view. But the federal judge overseeing his case ordered that their names be made public Thursday at noon ET.
“I’m concerned,” Santos said at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday afternoon when asked about his family’s safety, NBC News reported.
Asked whether family members had enough money to back the bond, Santos replied, “Don’t you think that’s a little invasive?”
“That’s exactly the reason that I chose to keep their identities secure,” Santos said, according to NBC. He described his father and aunt as honest working people.
In a later tweet, Santos said he and his family “have made peace” with the court’s decision. “Now I pray that the judge is correct and no harm comes to them,” Santos tweeted.
Santos’ lawyer and a spokesperson for his office did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include money laundering, wire fraud, theft of public funds and making false statements. He has vowed not to resign.
The criminal charges followed a snowballing series of scandals surrounding Santos, who admitted before taking office that he had lied about key details of his life while on the campaign trail. Santos was already embroiled in an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which announced Thursday that it has issued “over 30 subpoenas and more than 40 voluntary requests for information” in the probe.
In a newly unsealed court order from June 6, a magistrate judge said that the two guarantors, referred to as suretors, had appeared in person to sign Santos’ bond five days after his arraignment.
“Although neither Suretor secured the Bond with cash or property, each agreed to be personally responsible for Defendant’s compliance,” Magistrate Judge Anne Shields wrote in that order.
A third suretor was referenced at an earlier bail hearing, but that person never showed up and the court is “unaware of their identity,” Shields wrote.
The two family members who signed the bond are employed and live in the same district as the Long Island-area federal court handling Santos’ case, Shields noted.
“These family members were deemed able to provide the necessary moral suasion to ensure Defendant’s compliance with the terms of the Bond,” she wrote.
Santos “sought to have this information sealed to protect his family from publicity and possible harassment.” But she ordered that the guarantors’ names be unsealed, siding with multiple news agencies who had pushed for the information.
Days after his arraignment, The New York Times argued that the law supported the public’s right to know the suretors.
The “interest in openness is particularly strong in this case” because the situation presented “an obvious opportunity for political influence,” the newspaper wrote. It added: “That risk is further heightened by the fact that the very crimes Rep. Santos has been charged with involve abusing the political process for personal gain.”
A consortium of news outlets, including NBC News, followed suit, arguing, “Rep. Santos cannot overcome the presumption of openness” afforded by the First Amendment and federal common law.
Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, urged the court to deny those requests, pointing to the “media frenzy” that was swirling around the case.
That intense press coverage has made the suretors “very fearful and concerned,” even prompting one of the three to back out by the morning of Santos’ May 10 arraignment, Murray wrote. The lawyer argued the guarantors will likely “suffer great distress” and face retaliation if their names are made public.
“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” he added.
Shields sided with the news outlets but gave Santos time to appeal. His lawyer then asked U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert if it would be possible to find a compromise, such as disclosing that the suretors were Santos’ family members without identifying them specifically.
But the judge ordered Tuesday evening that “all previously sealed documents, including the Bond, are to be unsealed to the extent that the names of Defendant’s Suretors are to be disclosed.”
The judge noted that Santos can move to modify the conditions of his bail if his remaining guarantors decide to back out.
In her memorandum on the decision, which was also unsealed Thursday, Seybert said it was “disingenuous” for Santos to argue that the environment surrounding the case would keep the suretors from fulfilling their role.
Seybert noted that Santos’ father and aunt did not appear in court until five days after the arraignment and were therefore aware of the media reaction to the case. “At that time, Defendant did nothing to diffuse the ‘media frenzy’ when leaving the courthouse, instead choosing to address the numerous reporters awaiting his departure,” the judge wrote.
She also brushed aside Murray’s assertion that the suretors will likely be harassed if publicly outed, calling that claim “speculation and conjecture.”
“Indeed, it appears Defendant’s continued attempts to shield the identity of his Suretors … has simply created hysteria over what is, in actuality, a nonissue,” Seybert added.
Santos, 34, is accused of defrauding his campaign supporters, lying to obtain unemployment money during the coronavirus pandemic and making false statements on his congressional disclosure forms.
He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the top charges against him, according to the Justice Department.
Santos, who took office under a cloud of scandal in January, is the Republican Party’s first openly gay representative elected to Congress. He is still seeking reelection in 2024.
Disclosure: NBC News and CNBC are part of NBCUniversal.
