After spending five months in jail awaiting trial, a Detroit-area doctor accused of performing multiple female genital mutilation surgeries may be released on a $4.5 million bond.

The amount, set by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, is believed to be the "largest ever" bond in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Seventeen supporters have agreed to post assets or cash in order for Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, a former Henry Ford Health System emergency room physician, to be released pending trial, which is currently scheduled for Oct. 10, according to federal court records.

"If Dr. Nagarwala violates the terms of her bond or fails to appear for court, she and her husband would face the forfeiture of their Northville home," court spokesman David Ashenfelter said in a release Tuesday. "Seventeen individuals who are guaranteeing her bond would be required to satisfy the remainder of the $4.5 million if she fails to comply with the terms of her release."

Federal prosecutors warned that Nagarwla is a flight risk due to her plentiful finances and overseas ties, and poses threat to the community because of the religious-based, secretive female circumcisions she's accused of conducting.

Nagarwala's attorney, Shannon M. Smith, has argued her client must be released on bond in order to reasonably defend herself in the complex case involving wire taps and other communications conducted largely in foreign languages.

The government expanded the number of charges and defendants in an unsealed second indictment.

The case now includes at least six identified victims, who are believed to have undergone female circumcisions between ages 6 and 8, and seven co-conspirators from Wayne County, Oakland County and Minnesota.

Nagarwala is accused of performing at least four genital cutting operations on children between 2015 and 2017; however prosecutors allege there have been potentially hundreds more.

The procedure is a religious rite sometimes conducted by the India-based Dawooni Bohra Muslim sect involving removing a portion of a girl's clitoris, usually when she is about 7, which is deemed illegal female genital mutilation in the U.S., the government claims in court filings.

A large community of Dawooni Bohra live in Minnesota, and it's believed leaders there coordinated with members in Metro Detroit to arrange for Nagarwala to perform the procedures.

They were conducted after hours at since-closed Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Defendant Fakhrudden Attar owned the clinic. His wife, Farida Attar and another defendant, Tahera Shariq, were indicted on claims they assisted Nagawala with female genital mutilation operations. The other defendants -- Fatema Dahodwala, Farida Arif, Haseena Halfal, and Zainab Hariyanawala -- based on the indictment, appear to the guardians of the victims, as they're described as coordinating the appointments and arriving at the clinics with the children.

Superseding indictment:

Female Genital Mutilation superseding indictment by Fergus Burns on Scribd

The government has taken steps to conceal much of its case, asking U.S. Judge Bernard Friedman to seal several motion filings, including most recently the government argument as to why Nagarwala shouldn't be released on bond.

All defendants, except Nagarwala, had previously been released on bond.

All defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation and female genital mutilation.

The Attars, Nagarwala and Dahodwala are charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding for allegedly urging parents of children who underwent the procedure to lie or withhold information from investigators.

Nagarwala and Fakhruddin Attar are additionally charged with conspiracy to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. While the statute is usually applied in cases of underage prostitution or sex trafficking, prosecutors feel it also relevant in this case.

While the intent behind female genital mutilation isn't sexual gratification, to arouse, humiliate, degrade or harass the victim, but rather rooted in religious or cultural tradition, it still meets the definition of sexual assault, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Woodward said during a previous detention hearing.