Who Posted George Santos’ $500K Bond In Criminal Fraud Case?

Republican Rep. George Santos’ aunt and father were kind enough to post the bail of $500k for him during his ongoing criminal fraud case.

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. The bond was the conjoined efforts of anonymous people, but was later discovered to be 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. This action went against Santos’ multiple requests to eep them out of the public eye.

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 devised and executed a scheme, aimed at defrauding donors to his 2022 political campaign.

That scheme, prosecutors claim, 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, “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.

Santos himself acknowledged that he has “embellished” significant portions of his resume and the claims that he made on his campaign trail. Such as; lying 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).