Photo courtesy of Marilyn Mosby/Instagram
According to the Department of Justice, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby-(D) was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 13.
Mosby is accused of using the CARES Act to claim financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic to remove funds from her own retirement account with the City of Baltimore’s Deferred Compensation Plan. She was indicted on two counts of perjury and two counts of falsifying a mortgage application.
The Baltimore City State’s Attorney withdrew $90,000 from her retirement account to secure mortgages on two homes. Because Mosby continued receiving her $247,955.58 annual salary during the pandemic, the federal government does not believe she “experienced financial hardship.” Mosby’s lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, called the charges “bogus” in a statement. He also accused the prosecution of racism and using Mosby to play politics.
Bolden said the case against Mosby was “rooted in personal, political and racial animus five months from her election.”
Mosby reportedly applied for a mortgage for $490,500 to purchase a home in Kissimmee, Fla., as well as a mortgage for $428,400 to buy a condo in Long Boat Key, Fla.
She was also charged with two counts of lying on the mortgage applications for failing to disclose tax liens on her home, totaling $45,022 from 2014, 2015 and 2016. Mosby called the coverage of her case racist in an Instagram post last summer.
“There comes a point when ENOUGH is ENOUGH,” she wrote. “WBFF Fox 45’s blatantly slanted, dishonest, misleading, racist, and extremely dangerous coverage must come to end. Last year, they ran 248 stories about me and my office, while WJZ ran 46, WBAL ran 26 and WMAR ran 10 during that year. Most disturbingly, they deliberately broadcast my home address and made a formal inquiry attempting to find out the schools my children attend. It’s ridiculous and it’s dangerous.”
Bolden claimed that Mosby did not know about the tax liens, which he said was acknowledged by the mortgage lenders. According to WTOP News, a tax lien was paid off in June of 2021, which was allegedly after the mortgages were received. The attorney appeared on the Roland Martin Unfiltered podcast to defend his client.
He noted the CARES Act was a provision given by the government to help those affected by the pandemic financially “in any way,” and this client had a side-hustle business that was struggling. Bolden added that her accountant advised her to apply for the funds.
“Her accountant urged her to take that money and she took that money,” said Bolden.
The maximum sentence is five years in federal prison for each count of perjury. The maximum is 30 years in prison for each count of making a false statement on a mortgage application, although actual sentences are generally much less.
Considering Mosby borrowed her from her own retirement to buy a vacation home, we certainly hope so.