June 20 (UPI) — The names of those who financially backed New York Republican Rep. George Santos’ $500,000 criminal bond will be revealed Thursday, according to a federal judge who gave the embattled congressman’s bail backers less than two days to withdraw.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert’s order Tuesday calls for the guarantors’ names to be unsealed at noon ET on Thursday after a number of media organizations pushed to make the filings public.
This is the second time a judge has ordered Santos’ bond sponsors’ names to be released. Earlier this month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ordered the names unsealed before the order was appealed.
“If this court is so inclined to unseal the sureties, we truly fear for their health, safety and well-being,” Santos’ attorney Joseph Murray said in court on June 6.
“These attacks have been extremely angry, anti-gay, anti-Republican and all around anti-social,” Murray added, saying that the donors funding Santos’ bond are family members.
According to Murray, one of the three guarantors has had “a change of heart” and was “withdrawing.”
Murray has not commented on Tuesday’s new order to unseal the names.
According to his lawyer, Santos has said he would rather be detained ahead of trial than allow his bail backers’ identities to be released.
“Defendant may move to modify the conditions of his release, should the sureties seek to withdraw from serving as sureties,” Seybert wrote in Tuesday’s brief ruling.
Last month, Santos pleaded not guilty to a 13-count federal indictment charging him with wire fraud, money laundering, theft and lying to Congress. He also admitted to embellishing parts of his resume before he was elected.
Santos is currently out on $500,000 bond, backed by the unidentified guarantors.
The Republican congressman has repeatedly called the indictment “a witch hunt.” Following his release May 10, he told reporters he would not resign from Congress and planned to continue his run for re-election.
A number of lawmakers from both parties have called on Santos to resign.