Ex-Top Baltimore Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby Is Convicted of Mortgage Fraud

Baltimore’s disgraced former District Attorney Marilyn Mosby gave wracked sobs as she was convicted of mortgage fraud, meaning she now faces decades in prison.

Mosby, a Democrat, was on Tuesday convicted of using a bogus COVID hardship claim to tap into her retirement funds to buy one of two Florida vacation homes. she owns.

The former top prosecutor, who served two terms as Baltimore’s state attorney, was found guilty on Tuesday on one count of mortgage fraud for lying on financial documents regarding a luxury condo she purchased in Long Boat Key located on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

She began crying as jurors began by clearing her of a similar charge, lying on an application form to get a mortgage on a second property in Kissimmee, Florida.

Mosby then gave a wracked sob on being convicted of the other charge she faced, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Mosby was convicted of perjury last year. She faces up to 30 years in prison for the January 2022 mortgage fraud and another 10 for the perjury convictions, with sentencing yet to be scheduled.

Experts say it’s unlikely she’ll serve anywhere near 40 years in prison – but say the two felony convictions mean it’s highly likely she will end up with a custodial sentence.

Mosby, a progressive whose soft-on-crime stance was blamed for soaring crime in murder-ravaged Baltimore, alleged that she was gifted $5,000 from her then-husband to take out a $428,400 loan on the Gulf Coast property in order to get a lower interest rate.

But prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland said evidence showed that she transferred the funds to her former husband and then sent the money back to herself in a financial sleight of hand.

Her former husband Nick Mosby – Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby – was not charged and remains in office.

In the wake of his wife’s latest conviction he conceded he ‘made mistakes’ and was not a ‘perfect person.’

Asked if he was worried he could now face charges, Nick Mosby said he had no such fear and insisted he’d been completely transparent.

He spoke after his disgraced former top attorney wife testified that she unwittingly made false statements on loan applications to purchase the homes in the Sunshine State.

She did not disclose that she owed $45,000 in federal taxes and lied that she was a first-time homebuyer to secure more favorable interest rates.

Jurors deliberated for most of the day and announced a split verdict in which they found her not guilty on a second mortgage fraud charge relating to a property in Kisseme, Florida.

Mosby was previously convicted on two counts of perjury in a separate criminal trial that took place in November.

The federal criminal charges stemmed from allegations that Mosby claimed a pandemic-related hardship to make early withdrawals from her retirement account, then used that money for down payments on the Florida properties.

Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky alleged she repeatedly lied on the mortgage applications, telling the court: ‘“She was the top prosecutor in the city of Baltimore and oversaw hundreds of lawyers.

‘You know what prosecutors know a lot about? Fraud. Mortgage fraud.”

They said Mosby was earning a gross salary of $247,000 a year and her income was not reduced during the COVID pandemic, though she claimed the pandemic had damaged her various side hustles.

Mosby served two terms as state’s attorney for Baltimore, earning a national profile for her progressive policies and several high-profile decisions.

She brought charges against the police officers involved in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, which ignited widespread protests against police brutality. None were convicted.

Mosby lost re-election in 2022 after being indicted by a federal grand jury, with her successor Ivan Bates taking a tougher stance on crime.

The mortgage fraud trial, which began in mid-January, was moved from Baltimore to Green belt, Maryland, over concerns potential jurors may have been biased by extensive media coverage of the case.

The trial included emotional testimony from both Mosby and her ex-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, who said he lied to her about their outstanding federal tax debt because he was embarrassed.

Marilyn Mosby testified that she didn’t intentionally make any false statements and signed the loan applications in good faith. Having never bought property before, she said she trusted real estate professionals and her husband during a stressful time.

Mosby’s failure to disclose that debt on her loan applications contributed to the mortgage fraud charges, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors also alleged that she lied about receiving a $5,000 gift from her then-husband, which allowed her to secure a lower interest rate.

The purported gift, which prosecutors traced back to her own account, is what led to her conviction, according to The Sun.

In order to obtain a conviction, prosecutors had to prove she knowingly made a false statement that affected the mortgage application process.

Once a political power couple in Baltimore, the Mosbys met in college and have two daughters together. They divorced in November.

In the perjury case, a different jury found Mosby lied about suffering financial losses so she could withdraw money from her retirement account.

Her defense initially condemned the prosecution as rooted in political or racial animus, but a judge later found those assertions invalid.

During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Mosby consciously told seven different lies on the mortgage applications in an attempt to persuade lenders to give her the loans and a lower interest rate she need to purchase the two properties, WBAL-TV reported.

They alleged that Mosby knew exactly what she was doing the entire time.