A federal judge ruled on Tuesday to unseal the identities of individuals who cosigned fabulist Republican Congressman George Santos’s (R-NY) $500,000 bond in his ongoing criminal fraud case.

The ruling in favor of media organization petitions comes a day after Santos’s attorney argued for the judge to keep the cosigners under seal. The New York Republican’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, wrote a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields arguing that the individuals who paid the bond would “suffer great distress” if their identities were revealed.

“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” Murray added, insisting Santos would rather go to jail than have those names unsealed.

“We truly fear for their health, safety, and well being,” Murray declared.

Speculation has run rampant as to who may have paid Santos’s bail. Insider’s Jacob Shamsian theorized last week who it may be. “There’s a very strong chance that one person putting up the money — directly or indirectly — is the jailed exiled Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui,” Shamsian wrote.

Shamsian pointed to Santos’s advocacy on behalf of Guo in recent weeks, like a recent tweet in which the Republican wrote, “Miles Guo is a political prisoner of the CCP inside the United States. Let that sink in.”

Guo is a prominent back of Steve Bannon and other GOP-leaning organizations.

Santos pleaded not guilty in May to the 13-count indictment, which alleges the Congressman “duped donors, stole from his campaign, lied to Congress about being a millionaire and cheated to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. He is due back in court on June 30,” noted the AP.

Santos, who has rebuffed calls to resign from inside his own party and district, has been accused of lying about everything from his work and education history to his heritage to even the cause of his own mother’s death.

The post Judge Grants Media Requests to Unseal Who Paid George Santos’s Bail — After Congressman Said He’d Go to Jail to Keep It Secret first appeared on Mediaite.

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