Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby indicted on federal charges she lied on loan, mortgage documents
BALTIMORE — A federal grand jury has indicted Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby on federal charges that she made false statements on loan applications.
The indictment charges Mosby with four counts. One relates to a $40,000 withdrawal Mosby took from her city retirement account in May 2020, citing that she had experienced a financial setback due to the pandemic.
“Mosby had not experienced adverse financial consequences stemming from the coronavirus as a result of ‘being quarantined, furloughed or laid off’ or ‘having reduced work hours’ or ‘due to lack of childcare’ or ‘the closing or reduction of hours of a business I own or operate’” — all perquisites for obtaining the loan, which Mosby attested to under penalty of perjury, the indictment says. In fact, her salary as state’s attorney had increased that year to $248,000.
The indictment also says that Mosby, 41, lied in order to lower the interest rate when she purchased a vacation home in Kissimmee, Florida, claiming it was a second home when she had already lined up a management company to utilize it as a short-term rental.
She also did not disclose as required that she had a federal tax lien when buying the home, the indictment says.
Mosby was elected to become the city’s top prosecutor in 2014, and rocketed to national prominence by bringing charges in the death of Freddie Gray and pushing progressive policies. She was reelected in 2018 and is up for reelection this year.
She could not be reached for comment; her attorney also could not be reached for comment.
Mosby and her husband, City Council President Nick Mosby, have been under investigation since at least February of last year when the FBI issued subpoenas for records. The subpoenas related to their political campaigns and outside businesses, and local churches were also asked for records related to the Mosbys’ charitable giving. Nothing related to those pursuits is mentioned in the indictment, and Nick Mosby is not accused of any wrongdoing.
In October, Marilyn Mosby’s attorney A. Scott Bolden told The Sun that federal prosecutors were pursuing perjury charges against his client, but would not give him details. He said he was only told at that time that it related to her signature on a document.
“I say, what document?” Bolden said. “You can’t prosecute me for perjury, or that I lied about a document, without telling me what the document is. Without telling me what the lie is. That’s denial of due process. Every one of them, there were right in the room, refused to tell us what the lie was, what document they saw.”
If convicted, Mosby faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the two counts of perjury and a maximum of 30 years for each of the two counts of making a false statement. Actual sentences take into account a defendant’s history and are typically far less.
Mosby purchased, in her name only, the eight-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot Kissimmee property, which is near Disney World and Orlando, in September 2020 for $545,000 and was using it as a rental property. Just months later in February, she purchased a condominium on a barrier island on Longboat Key, for $476,000.
In November, Mosby sold the Kissimmee property for nearly 30 percent profit, to a buyer from Baltimore County.
The Mosbys have been raising money for their legal defense.
The Sun reported in late 2020 that a $45,000 federal tax lien had been placed against the Mosbys. She has also faced questions about a travel company she formed in 2019 and did not initially disclose on state ethics forms. She requested an investigation by Inspector General Isabel Cumming; ultimately, Mosby criticized Cumming for not clearing her.
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