Embattled GOP House Rep. George Santos Files Appeal to Keep Names of Those Who Paid His $500k Bail Sealed From Public
Embattled GOP House Rep. George Santos filed an appeal to keep the names of those who paid his $500,000 bail sealed from public record, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
Santos reportedly filed the eight-page appeal on Friday morning – just hours before the noon deadline.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the embattled congressman’s legal team argued that those who posted the half-million-dollar bail would have to “withdraw” from serving as Santos’ bond guarantors if their names are released to the public.
The court documents also noted that Santos has "essentially publicly revealed that the suretors are family members and not lobbyists, donors or others seeking to exert influence over the Defendant."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ruled on Tuesday that the names of the GOP congressman’s bail sponsors will be disclosed to the public.
The judge gave Santos until noon on Friday, June 9, to appeal the ruling, and the names were to remain sealed until then.
The judge’s ruling, and Santos’ appeal, came shortly after the embattled New York congressman said that he would rather go to jail than have the names of those who paid his half-million-dollar bail revealed.
Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, penned a letter to Judge Shields arguing that revealing the names would subject Santos’ bail cosigners to “great distress” and “physical injury.”
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"Here in the instant case, the suretors are likely to suffer great distress, may lose their jobs, and God forbid, may suffer physical injury," Murray wrote in the letter on Monday.
"My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come," he added.
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Santos was first arrested and indicted last month on 13 criminal charges — including fraud — connected to campaign donations the embattled congressman took during the 2022 midterm election.
The embattled GOP congressman pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing on May 10, and he is currently scheduled to appear back in court on June 30.