Court documents unsealed Thursday show that Republican Representative George Santos's father, Gercino Dos Santos, and his aunt, Elma Santos Preven, paid $500,000 bail in association with a litany of alleged federal crimes committed by the New York congressman.

Santos, representing New York's Third District, was indicted on May 10 as part of a 13-count indictment unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The charges include 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.

Santos, whose legal name is George Anthony Devolder Santos, pleaded not guilty to all charges and upon facing arraignment was released on a $500,000 bond paid by unidentified co-signers. The backers' names, until today, were previously sealed.

A third bail sponsor mentioned during Santos's arraignment never came forward to sign the bond documents, according to a separate order unsealed Thursday as reported by Insider.

Newsweek reached out to Santos' attorney, Joseph Murray, for comment.

"I think the bigger issue here is the lack of transparency and [Santos'] desperate attempts to try to keep this stuff confidential," Jessica Tillipman, assistant dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University, told Newsweek. "Ultimately, when you're a public servant, getting $500,000 from people is not necessarily in accordance with what the expectations are."

She said prior to the unsealing of these documents that it says one of two things: whoever is paying the bail is somebody who could benefit from something that he could do for them in Congress, given his position; and the other issue could potentially lead to greater national security concerns.

In the months leading up to today's unsealing, Santos had become an outspoken supporter of Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui—deemed a fierce critic of China's ruling communist party in addition to a close political and business partner of Donald Trump's former White House strategist Steve Bannon. Wengui was arrested in March and is accused by prosecutors of leading a "complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of over $1 billion dollars."

"From what I teach at the school, which is anti-corruption, the bigger concern is anytime you have somebody giving you something that's considered a thing of value—which is defined quite broadly by our laws, which is what this is, paying for somebody's bail is most certainly a thing of value—you're concerned about potential quid pro quos from a criminal standpoint, or even at a basic level just violating ethics rules," Tillipman said.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert wrote in a court order that the bail bond will be unsealed at 12 p.m. Thursday, "during which time Defendant may move to modify the conditions of his release, should the [sureties] seek to withdraw from serving as [sureties]," according to court documents.

Santos' attorney, Joseph Murray, wrote in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields that the public release of the three bail backers' identities could cause them to "suffer great distress, may lose their jobs, and God forbid, may suffer physical injury."

Prior to that letter, Shields agreed with news organizations that pushed for the bond to be unsealed to benefit the public good. The New York Times was among them, arguing that the "interest in openness is particularly strong in this case" because the situation presented "an obvious opportunity for political influence," according to CNBC.

Other media outlets, including NBC News, argued that Santos "cannot overcome the presumption of openness" afforded by the First Amendment and federal common law.

Santos' father and aunt can potentially be legally culpable for posting the $500,000 bail, Tillipman said, if they can be tied to some sort of official action that he could take.

"You can't give a public official, whether they were a civil servant in the executive branch or you're in the legislative branch—you can't give people gifts of this size," she said. "I mean, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, it's not even within the realm of falling in those rules.

"So, that would put that person who gets the benefit in jail because the ethics rules only apply to public officials. But if we could connect this to some sort of public benefit if it can be demonstrated that this person had some sort of secret agreement with him to take an official action on their behalf, then we're dealing with our bribery laws; we're dealing with our criminal gratuities laws, depending on the nature of the exchange or linkage to some sort of official action."

Tillipman added: "That's where it gets dicey for the person giving the gift when it can be tied to something that he could do in return for them."

Patricia Crouse, a political science practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek that although newer questions now exist, Republicans likely feel relieved at today's revelation.

"Had it been a private citizen or company, there probably would have been more controversy," Crouse said.

Santos' short political career has been mired with numerous falsities that have ruptured his relationship with the majority of his constituents, including Republicans, in New York's Nassau County. His litany of personal and professional lies include illegitimate claims of graduating from New York's Baruch College in 2010 with a degree in economics and finance; working for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; and being the descendant of Holocaust survivors, among others.

Update 06/22/23, 1:08 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Patricia Crouse and additional information.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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