Judge tells Santos to I.D. bond co-signers

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Federal Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ruled Tuesday that the identities of the co-signers of U.S. Rep. George Santos’ $500,000 bail bond should be released, according to the Associated Press.

Santos’ attorney Joseph Murray Monday said in a letter to Shields that Santos “would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” the AP reported. A CNN reporter asked Santos on camera Tuesday why the names of the people who guaranteed the bonds should remain sealed.

The Nassau Republican answered, “Because it is.”

Efforts to reach Murray for further comment were unavailing.

Various news outlets, including the AP and The New York Times, called for the identities of the co-signers to be unsealed, citing a need for “the greatest transparency possible.”

Santos last month pleaded not guilty to a 13-count federal indictment, which includes 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 Congress.

Santos, who represents the 3rd Congressional District, took to Twitter following the indictment and described the probe into his personal, professional and financial background as a “witch hunt.”

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice have been investigating the congressman’s cam- paign filings. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the top charges.

In 2022 Santos allegedly defrauded prospective political supporters and used a Queensbased political consultant to tell donors that their money would be used for his congressional campaign, officials said. A pair of unidentified donors transferred $25,000 each into an LLC controlled by Santos before those funds were transferred to Santos’ personal bank accounts, prosecutors said.

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