A federal judge in New York ordered the unsealing of the identities of people who sponsored embattled Rep. George Santos’s (R-NY) criminal bond, denying the congressman’s latest attempt to keep his sponsors’ identities a secret.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert ordered Tuesday that the unsealing be set for noon on Thursday. The delay is in order to give the financial backers who helped Santos make a $500,000 bond in May time to withdraw.
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“The defendant may move to modify the conditions of his release, should the Suretors seek to withdraw from serving as suretors,” Seybert wrote in a brief ruling obtained by CBS News.
The ruling marked the second time a judge denied Santos’s request to keep the identities of his three backers a secret. Santos appealed to Seybert after a magistrate judge had denied his request. Seybert has been assigned to oversee Santos’s case if it goes to trial. The court did approve Santos’s request to notify the sponsors ahead of time.
The congressman has been the target of scrutiny since before he was sworn into office in January. He’s faced questions about his background and finances. The questions ultimately led to his indictment on 13 federal criminal charges in May.
The charges include 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 has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denounced the allegations as being politically motivated.
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Lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee have also requested the names of the individuals as part of an inquiry into the payment, but Santos’s legal team has not provided that information, according to court filings. The Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the matter after the House voted to refer it to the panel, temporarily saving Santos from a high-profile expulsion.
Attorneys for Santos have argued that releasing the names of the sponsors could result in “great distress,” job loss, or even physical harm to them. Defense attorneys have also claimed that the people who signed the bond were family members, not lobbyists or donors.
