A federal grand jury indicted Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby on Thursday after she lied about her financial status to purchase two properties in Florida.
The progressive official, whose reported annual salary is near $240,000, was charged with perjury and making false statements about her financial situation during COVID-19 to obtain premature access to her city retirement savings. Mosby was awarded at least $90,000 from that savings under a CARES Act provision that allowed government employees to dip into their retirement accounts if they were struggling to make ends meet. Despite claiming she was facing dire financial straits in Baltimore, Mosby used the money she withdrew to purchase vacation homes in Kissimmee near Disney World and Long Boat Key.
Federal prosecutors said Mosby’s lies grew when she obscured “outstanding federal tax debt” on a mortgage loan application and rented out one of her Florida homes after stating she wouldn’t.
“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,’” federal prosecutors wrote, noting that her salary actually increased during the height of the pandemic.
Mosby’s attorney claimed the charges were “bogus” and an attempt to hurt Mosby’s chances in the upcoming election.
“We will fight these charges vigorously, and I remain confident that once all the evidence is presented, that she will prevail against these bogus charges — charges that are rooted in personal, political and racial animus five months from her election,” he said in a statement.
Mosby first assumed office in 2015 after she openly associated herself with progressive prosecution strategies, which included refusing to prosecute drug-related offenses. She used her position to charge six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died of a spinal injury while being transported in a police vehicle. None of the officers, however, were convicted.
According to her biography on the Baltimore state’s attorney’s website, Mosby “immediately transformed the State’s Attorney’s office into a national model for progressive holistic prosecution, exemplifying the mantra of not just being ‘tough on crime’ but more importantly ‘smart on crime.’”
In 2018, now-Vice President Kamala Harris lauded Mosby for her progressive approach to criminal justice and even claimed that the state’s attorney “cannot fail and I know she will not fail.”
“When we march and we shout about what we need to do to reform the criminal justice system, we better understand that we got to march and shout with our paychecks and all of the work that we can do to actually make sure that somebody like Marilyn Mosby gets re-elected into that office. To not only get convictions, but have convictions. There are a lot of people who are highly critical of her because she heard the voices of the people and said, ‘Even if I can’t win, I’m going to do the right thing.’ It’s gonna be rough, it’s gonna be tough,” Harris said.
Mosby’s husband, City Council President Nick Mosby, was subpoenaed in March of 2021 but has not been charged with anything.