A federal judge Tuesday granted media organizations’ requests to unseal the names of the people who cosigned Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) $500,000 bond in his criminal fraud case.

The order is a blow to Santos, whose attorney Monday asked a judge to keep the names of the bond cosigners sealed. The congressman’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, expressed concern for the sponsors should their identities be revealed, citing a “media frenzy” around the Santos case.

“If this Court is so inclined to unseal the sureties, we truly fear for their health, safety and well being,” Murray said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields gave Santos until noon Friday to appeal the ruling, ordering the names to remain under seal in the meantime.

Murray previously indicated Santos would rather go to jail ahead of trial rather than allow the suretors to face the public attention.

“My client would rather surrender to pretrial detainment than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come,” Murray said.

The Hill has reached out to Murray and Santos’s congressional office for comment.

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