The father and aunt of accused Rep. George Santos supported the congressman’s $500,000 bail in his money laundering and wire fraud case, according to court documents made public Thursday.
The documents identify the co-signers as Gercino dos Santos, the defendant’s father, and Elma Preven, his aunt, ending a more than month-long mystery over who guaranteed the Republican lawmakers’ unsecured bond.
U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert ordered the identities of Santos’ bail co-signers to be released at noon Thursday despite requests from Santos’ attorney to keep their identities secret.
“My family and I have made peace with the judge’s decision to release their names,” Santos said in a statement to Newsday on Thursday. “Now I pray that the judge is right and no harm befalls them. I look forward to continuing this process and I ask the media not to harass or harass my father and aunt for the sake of [sic] of cheap reports. If the press needs comments, they know where and how to find me.”
Dos Santos could not be reached Thursday. Preven did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The first-term 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.
According to federal prosecutors, Santos allegedly orchestrated a series of schemes while running for Congress, including defrauding political donors, fraudulently receiving authorized COVID-19 unemployment benefits even though he had a job and lying on his tax forms. congressional financial disclosure.
Santos was released on $500,000 unsecured bail supported by his co-signers at his May 10 appearance in federal court in Central Islip, but their identities were sealed by the court at the request of Santos’ attorney. The co-signers are not obligated to pay any money upfront and would only be financially responsible if Santos were to violate the terms of the bond, according to the agreement.
News organizations, including Newsday, asked the judge to unseal the identities, citing the right of public access to court proceedings. The media, as well as the House Ethics Committee, had also questioned whether the co-signatories were lobbyists or others possibly trying to improperly influence the congressman.
Federal prosecutors did not take a position on the matter.
Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged the judge to deny the request, arguing that the bond sponsors would face harassment if their names were made public. Murray said one of the co-signatories withdrew after the “media frenzy” surrounding the indictment.
Murray, who revealed at the time that the co-signers were family members without being specific, said his client would rather be jailed than have the names released. Murray, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, also suggested a possible composition, saying the judge could release family relationships but not names.
But Seybert ruled that the names would be released, writing in an order Tuesday that was released Thursday: “Indeed, it appears that the defendant’s continued attempts to protect the identity of his underwriters, despite the fact that he is aware that their identities are not in dispute, they have simply created hysteria over what is, in fact, a non-issue.In short, given the facts and circumstances of this case, disclosure of the identities of the family insurers is necessary to to quell speculation about the granting of bail for the defendant’s release, thereby offsetting the speculative privacy concerns raised by the defendant.”
The release order, unsealed by the judge Thursday, listed the names of dos Santos and Preven as co-signers on the unsecured bond, but their addresses were redacted. Four full pages of the six-page document were also redacted.
Santos, who won the 2022 election for New York’s Third Congressional District that covers parts of Nassau and Queens, took office in January under a cloud of scandal.
Santos admitted to lying about many aspects of his personal and professional history after The New York Times reported that there was no record of him working for financial institutions where he claimed to have been employed or attending universities where he had graduated.
Santos has announced he is seeking re-election despite calls for his resignation, including from the Nassau County Republican Party. Santos is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and New York State Attorney General Letitcia James. He is due back in federal court next Friday.
With Laura Figueroa Hernández
Nicole Fuller is Newsday’s senior criminal justice reporter. He started working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
