Global Courant
Representative George Santos’ father and aunt guaranteed his $500,000 bail, according to a court document unsealed Thursday over the congressman’s objection.
Santos, a first-term Republican congressman representing parts of New York’s Queens and Nassau County, posted the bond after pleading not guilty to a 13-count indictment last month that charged him with fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds .
His bond was guaranteed by Gercino Santos and Elma Santos Preven, whom Santos first told ABC News’ Rachel Scott are his father and his aunt.
In May, the House Ethics Committee sent a letter to Santos requesting the names of his sureties so it could determine “whether you may have requested or received an improper gift in connection with the bail bonds.”
However, his lawyer previously expressed a preference for Santos to go to jail rather than release the bailors’ names to the public, arguing that the bailors could be harmed if their identities were revealed.
“Here in the present case, the bail bondsmen are likely to be in dire distress, lose their jobs and, God forbid, suffer bodily harm,” Joseph Murray’s defense said in a lawsuit.
“I am also concerned for the safety of the people whose names are being revealed, who are family members, and I am concerned for their safety,” Santos told ABC News a day before the names were released.
Rep. George Santos awaits the start of a session in the House room at the Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2023.
Alex Brandon/AP, DOSSIER
But federal judge Joanna Seybert sided with a coalition of news organizations, including ABC News, who argued that the names should be made public.
Federal Election Commission records show that an Elma S. Preven of New York made three donations to Devolder-Santos for Congress in 2021, totaling just over $4,000. Records at the time listed Preven as a mail handler for the United States Postal Service.
Neither she nor Gercino Santos responded to an ABC News request for comment.
The House Ethics Committee has been investigating Santos since March. This week, two House Democrats — Dan Goldman of Brooklyn and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati — asked the House Ethics Committee to disclose whether Santos had complied with the committee’s request to disclose the names of the bailors.
The embattled congressman faces five counts of wire fraud in what prosecutors say was a fraudulent scheme to solicit political contributions, as well as two counts of unlawful money transfers for allegedly transferring donations he received for his political campaign to accounts he controlled before spending them on personal purchases; one count of theft of government money; two more cases of electronic fraud for allegedly fraudulently applying for and receiving unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic; and two counts of making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives in financial disclosure reports.
Santos, who has been accused of misrepresenting elements of his employment, education and family history, has admitted that he lied about parts of his background while running for Congress.
