Indicted Long Island Rep. George Santos would rather go to jail than identify the two people who cosigned his $500,000 bond last month allowing him to remain free, the lying congressman’s lawyer said.
Attorney Joseph Murray urged a judge Monday to reject a request by news outlets clamoring for the names of Santos’ mystery bond suretors, or guarantors, suggesting that they could “suffer great distress,” including possible job losses and even physical harm, if they are named publicly.
“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” Murray wrote in a letter to US Magistrate Judge Anne Shields.
Santos, 34, pleaded guilty last month to a 13-count federal indictment accusing him of embezzling $50,000 in campaign money for personal expenses, duping donors, lying to Congress about his income and cheating to collect COVID unemployment benefits.
The infamously dishonest politician — notorious for concocting elaborate lies about his family background, education and work history — was released from custody on bond immediately after the May 10 hearing.
Santos has so far ignored bipartisan calls to resign and has said he will not drop his reelection bid despite the indictment, which he slammed as a “witch hunt.”
Since then, news outlets, led by the New York Times, have asked the judge to identify the two people who secured Santos’ pretrial bond, citing a “compelling public interest in maintaining the greatest transparency possible in these proceedings.”
Murray petitioned the judge Monday that she give Santos’ guarantors time to withdraw as cosigners if she decides to identify them, which Shields kept off the public court docket at the lawyer’s request.
Murray said he, Santos and Santos’ staff have been flooded with threatening and harassing calls and messages, including death threats.
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The lawyer said that as recently as Friday he received a call from someone shouting, “Who paid Santos’ bond?” and said he worries Santos’ critics “are just waiting to pounce” on the people who made his release possible.
“We truly fear for their health, safety and well-being,” Murray wrote.
Prosecutors in the federal fraud case have neither backed nor opposed the unsealing request.
Separately, the House Ethics Committee wrote to Santos on May 16 asking him to identify the people who cosigned his bond.
Murray said Santos originally lined up three financially responsible cosigners as suretors, but one backed out and the other opted to skip his May 10 arraignment, forcing them to make “other confidential arrangements” to ensure the congressman’s release.
Santos’ bond is unsecured, meaning that his cosigners didn’t have put up any money upfront, but could be forced to pay the full $500,000 amount if the Republican congressman doesn’t comply with his release conditions or fails to show up for court.
Under the conditions of his release, Santos, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, must limit his travel to within the tristate area and Washington, DC, barring special permission. He also was forced to surrender his passport.
Santos is due back in court on June 30. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the top charges.
With Post wires
