The names of relatives of accused 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, must be sealed to the extent that the names of [Santos’] sureties must be disclosed,” U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said in an order Tuesday.
The judge’s decision comes in response to an appeal by Santos’ attorney after a successful legal push by more than a dozen media outlets, including Newsday, to have the names of those who co-signed the bond de Santos were sealed.
The names of the co-signatories of the bonds are part of the public record in criminal cases. But Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, tried to seal the records.
After news organizations challenged that initial decision, Murray said his client would rather be jailed before trial than reveal the names of two family members who agreed to co-sign his bond. Murray had also argued that co-signers would suffer harassment.
Murray could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
But Seybert sided with the push for media transparency and set a precedent that proceedings in the nation’s court systems are generally public. Federal prosecutors remained neutral on the issue.
Seybert said the bail documents will remain sealed until noon Thursday in order to give Santos time to “modify the conditions of his release, should the sureties seek to withdraw from serving as sureties.”
If that were to happen, Santos would have to find new bond co-signatories. If he was unable to do so, Santos’ bond would be revoked and he would be held in 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 to lying about his education and other aspects of his background, allegedly orchestrated a series of schemes while running for Congress, including defrauding political donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits authorized by the COVID-19 despite having a job and lying on his congressional financial disclosure forms.
Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to appear again in federal court in Central Islip on June 30.
The investigations into Santos began after The New York Times revealed that he had lied about much of his history and work background. Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District that includes parts of Nassau and Queens, has repeatedly rejected calls to resign.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday’s senior criminal justice reporter. He started working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
