Unsealed Court Document Reveals Who Posted George Santos' $500K Bond in Criminal Fraud Case
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In May, The New York Times argued in the U.S. District Court on Long Island that those who helped cover Santos' bond should be made public
Republican Rep. George Santos' aunt and father helped post his $500,000 bond in an ongoing criminal fraud case, according to records unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday.
Santos was criminally charged by federal investigators in May on 13 counts: 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 the House of Representatives.
Within hours of being indicted, Santos pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, and was ultimately released on $500,000 bond — which was paid for with the help of previously anonymous people, who have now been identified as his aunt, Elma Santos Preven, and father, Gercino Dos Santos.
In May, The New York Times argued in the U.S. District Court on Long Island that those who committed the funds to Santos' bond should be made public. The outlet was ultimately joined by various other news outlet in arguing that there's a public interest to identifying the individuals, who could have "political influence" over Santos.
A federal judge in New York agreed to unseal the records showing the identities of the people who helped the embattled congressman post his bond, denying Santos' request to keep the information out of public view. In a June court filing, Santos' lawyer had asserted that family members sponsored the bond — not people with political interests — and argued that they deserve privacy.
In an indictment, federal prosecutors say that the congressman allegedly "devised and executed a scheme" aimed at defrauding donors to his 2022 political campaign.
That scheme, prosecutors allege, included applying for and receiving unemployment benefits at the height of the pandemic — while he was employed and running a congressional campaign. The fraud continued, the indictment adds, when Santos began pocketing campaign contributions to buy designer clothing and pay off his personal debts.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement announcing the arrest that "the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself."
If Santos is convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the top counts, according to the Justice Department.
Related: Embattled Rep. George Santos Has Ties to a Powerful Russian Oligarch, Campaign Filings Reveal
Santos has generated substantial controversy since his election to Congress in November, particularly after a bombshell New York Times report found that many of the claims he made on the campaign trail and on his resume were unsubstantiated.
The outlet said Santos misled voters about his level of education, previous jobs and family ties to the Holocaust — news that earned him bipartisan condemnation for misrepresenting himself.
Santos himself acknowledged that he has "embellished" significant portions of his resume, telling the New York Post that he lied about working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as he had previously asserted, and about attending Baruch College and New York University (he did not graduate from college).
But in the weeks and months that followed, more mysteries cropped up, like the source of his income, which has seemingly grown by hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years — and his ties to a powerful Russian oligarch.
In January, The Washington Post reported that some of Santos' campaign donations came from Andrew Intrater, the cousin of sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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