Santos bond co-signers secret

A federal magistrate ruled Tuesday to make public the names of the cosigners on indicted Rep. George Santos $500,000 release bond, but said she will keep them secret for now to give his lawyer time to appeal the decision. US Magistrate Judge Anne Shields’ ruling came a day after Santos’ lawyer said the New York Republican would risk going to jail to protect the identities of his cosigners whose backing enabled his pretrial release. The decision was a victory for news outlets including The Associated Press and The New York Times that petitioned Shields last week to unseal the names, citing a need for the greatest transparency possible. Santos lawyer, Joseph Murray, urged Shields to keep the names secret. He suggested that the congressman’s cosigners could suffer great distress if they were identified publicly.