George Santos’ secret bond backers have finally been revealed

The identities of the co-signers on Rep. George Santos’s $500,000 bond have been revealed as Santos’s aunt, Elam Santos Preven, and his father, Gercino Dos Santos.

The disgraced Congressman lost his appeal to keep their identities sealed after Santos’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, begged the court to keep their names a secret, saying that he and Santos “truly fear for their health, safety, and well-being.” Murray even said that Santos would prefer to go back to jail until his trial than to have the guarantors’ names made public. Despite his protestations, he did not choose to return to jail to protect their identities.

Related:

George Santos’s lawyer was at the January 6 Capitol insurrection

He also defended the insurrectionists as “political prisoners” even though they injured over 140 cops and tried to overturn a national election.

Santos was arraigned last month and faces 13 federal charges, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds, related to alleged illegal schemes to enrich himself. Santos pleaded not guilty and was released on a $500,000 bond to await his trial.

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields told him that he would need to find three guarantors for his bond. He found three and the judge approved them. All three went to the courthouse to sign the bond, but their identities weren’t made public. According to the Independent, the third guarantor ultimately backed out.

As Bloomberg Law noted at the time, this was “a departure from typical federal court practice,” where guarantors are identified in open court and advised of their responsibility to ensure that he returns to court. No documentation was posted about them to the public docket in federal court in Central Islip, New York, either.

Santos claimed publicizing their identities would cause them “great distress” and potentially job loss or physical injury.

The New York Times fought in court for their identities to be revealed, arguing that the public has a right to know because Santos is an elected official and the situation “presented an obvious opportunity for political influence.”

“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,” the Times‘ lawyers argued.

Shortly after he was elected to Congress, Santos’s entire life story fell apart as multiple media outlets reported that he had made up his educational, career, and family background and couldn’t provide proof for other major events he claimed happened in his life, like employing people who died in the Pulse shooting or that he ran a real charity that helped pets.

He was also accused of numerous crimes, which he denies. Many people also came forward with accusations related to theft and fraud, saying that Santos stole money from roommates, from people with sick pets, and even through an ATM scam. He faces several investigations for campaign finance misdeeds in the House.

He is now being prosecuted in connection to how he allegedly told campaign donors to give money to a private organization that he ran in lieu of giving directly to his campaign – funds that prosecutors claim he took and used for designer clothes and other personal items – and filing for unemployment benefits while being employed to defraud the government of around $25,000.