George Santos Says His Family Helped Bail Him Out. (Just Don’t Ask Who.)

Representative George Santos on Friday appealed a federal magistrate judge’s decision ordering the release of the names of the people who helped bail him out of federal custody, suggesting that the individuals were family members.

The identities of Mr. Santos’s guarantors have been the subject of intense interest to both the news media and the House Ethics Committee, which last month requested that Mr. Santos disclose their names so it might assess whether the $500,000 bail guarantee violated House ethics rules regarding gifts.

In papers filed with the Eastern District of New York on Friday, Mr. Santos’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, argued that Mr. Santos had not violated ethics rules, citing an exception for family members and implying that the guarantors fell into that category. Mr. Santos has argued that releasing the individuals’ names would subject them to attacks and harassment.

“Defendant has essentially publicly revealed that the suretors are family members and not lobbyists, donors or others seeking to exert influence over the defendant,” Mr. Murray wrote in his motion, which came days after Judge Anne Y. Shields ordered that the names be unsealed.

It remains to be seen how his appeal before Judge Joanna Seybert will be received.

Mr. Santos, a Republican representing Long Island and parts of Queens, is facing 13 felony counts including money laundering and wire fraud. He has pleaded not guilty.

A group of media organizations, including The New York Times, requested last month that the identities of the people who guaranteed Mr. Santos’s bail bond be unsealed. The coalition contended that the names of those individuals were a matter of public interest, particularly given Mr. Santos’s position in Congress and the possibility that the bail arrangement could constitute an improper political gift.

In a motion filed on Monday, Mr. Murray shared a response he wrote to the Ethics Committee’s questions about bail, in which he pointed to House ethics rules that permit gifts from family members. At the time, it was not clear whether he was referring to some or all of the sureties. In Friday’s motion, he was more explicit.

Mr. Murray said that he would not oppose a targeted unsealing that would confirm to the public and to House investigators that Mr. Santos’s guarantors were family members, without fully revealing their names or exact relationships to Mr. Santos.

Though the suretors did not hand over actual money, they will be on the hook for the $500,000 if Mr. Santos flees prosecution. And while the Ethics Committee has not issued specific guidance on bail bonds, experts suggested the arrangement could run afoul of House gift rules if the sureties were not immediate relatives, spouses, extended family or in-laws.

Mr. Santos, 34, has a younger sister, Tiffany Santos, who lives in New York and has been supportive of her brother’s political career. Ms. Santos drew her own headlines after donating thousands of dollars to her brother’s campaign despite owing tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. Ms. Santos also served as the president of a New York State PAC called Rise NY, which Mr. Santos promoted and whose handling of funds has raised questions.

His father, Gercino dos Santos Jr., also lives in New York. On contributions to his son’s congressional campaign, he has listed his occupation as painter, construction or retired.

Mr. Santos’s mother, Fatima Devolder, died in 2016 after a battle with cancer. Ms. Devolder figured prominently in her son’s campaign biographies, and many of his past claims about her, including ties to the Sept. 11 attacks, have drawn significant scrutiny.

Mr. Santos has also said that he has a husband, whom he named in a 2020 interview as Matheus Gerard, and that the two married in November 2021 on Long Island.

In his motion, Mr. Murray again said that one of Mr. Santos’s initial three suretors had already dropped out amid the intense media interest, and that he was at risk of losing the remaining two if their identities were released. Were that to happen, he argued, Mr. Santos “may be subject to more onerous conditions of release or may be subject to pretrial detention.”