Marilyn Mosby speaks during ‘Genius Talks’ at the 2017 BET Experience on June 24, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for BET.)
Federal prosecutors have obtained a criminal indictment against the Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby (D), the most prominent and outspoken elected prosecutor in her jurisdiction.
According to the indictment, Mosby is charged with two counts of perjury in connection with COVID-19 hardship relief transactions and two counts of misrepresentation on loan applications. The loan applications were related to Mosby’s purchase of a vacation home in Kissimmee, Fla., and a condominium in Long Boat Key, Fla., the indictment says; she is accused of using the pandemic as an excuse to withdraw money from retirement accounts by alleging financial hardship she never suffered to finance the purchases. She is also accused of failing to pay federal income tax.
count one
According to the indictment, Mosby attempted to withdraw $40,000 from a Nationwide Financial Services 457(b) account on May 26, 2020, pursuant to a “coronavirus-related distribution request.” These 457(b) accounts are available to state and local government employees (and some nonprofit employees) as a retirement savings vehicle. Like other retirement accounts, individuals are only supposed to make withdrawals after reaching a certain age. For 457(b) accounts, this age is 70½. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (or CARES Act) allowed individuals to take a “coronavirus-related distribution” if they met certain financial hardship criteria.
In a takedown request, Mosby said she was entitled to a distribution because she had “suffered adverse financial consequences arising from [the] virus” and she had been “quarantined, laid off or furloughed”, had had her hours reduced, had been unable to work “due to a lack of childcare” or because of “the closing or reduction of hours of a business” it “possesses[ed] or operate[d]“, says the indictment. Mosby made the statement “under penalty of perjury” – and prosecutors say that is exactly what she did.
“Mosby had not suffered any adverse financial consequences as a result of the coronavirus,” the indictment alleges. “In fact, Mosby’s gross salary in 2020 was $247,955.58, and it was never reduced. She received bi-weekly gross salary direct deposits in the amount of $9,183.54 in all months prior to her withdrawal request. The 2020 figures represented an increase of nearly $10,000 over his 2019 salary, the indictment adds.
The indictment alleges Mosby used the money as a down payment on a $490,500 vacation home in Kissimmee, Florida in September 2020.
Count two
According to the indictment, Mosby and her husband failed to pay $46,556 in federal income tax in 2014; $17,812 in taxes in 2015. Excessive withholdings in subsequent years resulted in the collection of some of the payments, resulting in a debt of $45,022 as of March 2020. The “IRS has placed a lien” on “all property and proprietary rights belonging to” Mosby for the amount, the indictment states. Penalties and interest resulted in a total amount claimed of $69,040.
Mosby did not disclose her IRS responsibilities when she purchased the Kissimmee home, the indictment says.
The billing document also alleges that Mosby locked in a lower interest rate by saying she would not rent the property – shortly after signing an agreement with a management company authorized to rent the property when she did not. was not using.
Count three
Similar to Count 1, this count alleges that Mosby again requested a withdrawal from his 457(b) plan — this time for $50,000 on Dec. 29, 2020. The indictment says Mosby also did not the right to take that distribution because she was not suffering financial hardship as required by the CARES Act.
“Mosby used the withdrawal for a down payment for a second vacation home in Long Boat Key, Florida,” which “she purchased in February 2021,” according to the indictment.
Count four
The second holiday home is subject to final settlement. The loan documents Mosby executed for the $428,400 property also failed to mention Mosby’s IRS responsibilities, according to the indictment.
“I fully understand that it is a federal crime punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, to knowingly make a false statement when applying for a mortgage, pursuant to provisions of 18 USCA § 1014,” the documents say.
According to the charges, rather than listing the IRS debt, Mosby listed Kissimmee’s mortgage, “three installment loans, the car loan for his BMW and a revolving credit card liability.”
Mosby also reportedly signed a document warning:
Mortgage fraud is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both. It is illegal for a person to misrepresent their income, assets, debts. . . in a loan and credit application for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of a financial institution.
The document even cited a specific federal charge, 18 USC § 1014, which Mosby could face if the claims were found to be incorrect.
Confiscation
The indictment notes that Mosby could be compelled to forfeit “any property, real or personal, that constitutes or is derived from the proceeds attributable to the fraud scheme.” Substitute assets may also be seized.
Mosby was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. Her office is up for re-election this year.
the Baltimore Sun reported that neither Mosby nor his attorney could be reached for comment. The newspaper also reported that Mosby later sold the Kissimmee property “for almost 30% profit” to another person in Baltimore County.
The newspaper further noted that Mosby supporters have long suggested the prosecutor-turned-accused was “targeted for her progressive politics” and that “black leaders are often unfairly targeted for investigations.”
Nick Mosby, the prosecutor’s husband, is not named as a defendant in the indictment.
Read the indictment below:
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