Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby Indicted for Perjury,

in her request for a $40,000 retirement withdrawal, when she claimed hardship stemming from COVID; other false statements, under oath or not, are also charged.

You can see today's indictment here. The Baltimore Sun (Justin Fenton & Tim Prudente) reports:

The indictment alleges that Mosby, 41, sought a $40,000 withdrawal from her city retirement account in May 2020, citing that she had experienced a financial setback due to the pandemic. Her salary that year had in fact increased $10,000 that year, to $248,000.

"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 [prerequisites] for obtaining the loan, which Mosby attested to under penalty of perjury, the indictment says.

The indictment says Mosby received $36,000, which she then put toward a down payment on a rental property near Orlando, Fla. But prosecutors say in purchasing that property, she lied about having a federal tax lien and falsely said the property was a second home, which lowered the interest rate.

The indictment caught my eye partly because of this blog's past coverage of Mosby's asking the FCC to investigate a TV station for criticizing her.

Comments

[mulch]

“perquisites” or “prerequisites”?

I’ll assume the error was in the original.

[Eugene Volokh]

So in original, but I’ve changed it to “[prerequisites].”

[Dilan Esper]

She didn’t have the prerequisites for her perquisites.

[DaivdBehar]

Hire a diverse, explode crime. There is no where on earth where a diverse run government has ever been successful, not for the past 600 years and this guy. At today’s gold prices he may be a trillionaire. He ran a high civilization that included free public education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa

[Commenter_XY]

Marilyn, perhaps this quote will provide solace: We ask for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system.

Indeed.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I read it as

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mostly Indicted for Perjury,

(P,S, there’s something wrong with the title)

[Cheerio]

“Her salary that year had in fact increased $10,000 that year…”

That doesn’t necessarily matter here. For one thing, I think the rule for those withdrawals also allowed you to count if a *spouse* had any adverse financial impact resulting from the pandemic. (Moreover, the IRS guidance from that summer even said that there didn’t need to be any correlation between the extent of the financial adversity and the amount withdrawn…)

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

If she used it for a down payment on a rental home, it wasn’t an emergency.

[Cheerio]

I hear you, but the rule didn’t require an “emergency” – rather only some amount of adverse financial consequence (i.e., did she or her spouse take in less than they *would* have, if not for Covid…).

Maybe she couldn’t even pass that test, but it’s actually a low bar…

[branford]

Her husband is Nick Mosby, Baltimore City Council President and former member of the House of Delegates.

Like most other elected officials, he received all pay and benefits during the pandemic, possibly even receiving a raise like his wife.

[dwb68]

This is the kind of thing she *should* be indicted for:

https://foxbaltimore.com/amp/news/local/political-firestorm-ignites-over-arsonists-plea-deal-given-by-baltimores-top-prosecutor

“Trent, speaking exclusively with FOX45 News, said he was equally as surprised to get released from custody.

“I disrupted somebody’s life. I traumatized somebody because of how I felt in a situation,” Trent said. “Personally, yes, I want to be out but principally, no I shouldn’t be out because I could have done a lot more damage than I did. I was expecting to get time. people who were in that situation, they should expect to get time.””

I am all for second chances. But if you try to kill your ex girlfriend by burning her house down, you should not get a suspended sentence. When the defendant himself thinks the sentence is too light, there is a problem.

[Law Prof John Banzhaf]

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby may finally face justice as she has just been indicted by a federal grand jury.

But years earlier she was the subject of at least four formal complaints seeking her disbarment based upon several different allegations of constitutional and other violations.

But the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland took no action on any of the complaints – which were supported by overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, including findings by a judge – leaving her free to continue to violate the rights of defendants, as she did regarding the prosecution of several police officers.

Other prosecutors backed down and refused to continue the criminal prosecutions of the police officers Mosby had charged once they also were likewise threatened with disbarment proceedings, but Mosby remained in office and able to continue to engage in actions which a judge held violated the rights of several defendants.

Although, years ago, she faced at least four ethics complaints seeking her disbarment, and a judge found that she had violated the constitutional rights of the police officers she was trying, the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland appears to have taken no action to rein her in.

This means that, despite all of the adverse findings by several judges, she remained free to continue to violate the rights of criminal defendants, and to engage in other unethical if not illegal prosecutorial abuse.

The Commission’s apparent inaction is particularly distressing for two reasons.

First, as a prosecutor, she is in a position to continue to do tremendous harm to defendants before her as she did to the police offices, something not true about most lawyers charged with wrongdoing.

Second, many of the charges are matters of record based upon judicial findings, so any excuse that even more investigation must occur before any meaningful action can be taken just isn’t valid, he says.

So, although this new criminal indictment seems to have nothing to do with her many questionable if not illegal actions as a prosecutor, she may finally have to spend some time behind bars.

PS: I filed 3 of the 4 complaints seeking her disbarment, just as I have filed similar complaints against other public figures.

[Jerry B.]

Baltimore. Nothing else needs be said.

[Alan@.4]

Anyone surprised at the above from Maryland officialdom?

[Bill Poser]

Ethics aside, you have to wonder why she took the risk. There were presumably a fair number of people who knew about this and who might have blown the whistle, and once the whistle was blown, the facts are well documented. It isn’t the sort of thing she could be confident of keeping secret.

[ChrisC]

Read her history from a commenter above. She got away with malfeasance for years. I am sure she is shocked to be caught and prosecuted now.

[John F. Carr]

It could be conscious fraud, or it could be failure to think carefully about the exact words of the paperwork being signed.

The box on the COVID form said

[X] I have experienced adverse financial consequences stemming from such virus or disease as a result of:
* Being quarantined, furloughed, or laid off
* Having reduced work hours
* Being unable to work due to lack of child care
* The closing or reduction of hours of a business I own or operate

She may well have experienced a loss in work hours. It’s only that one word “financial” that says matching one of the list items is not enough on its own.

As for the loan, she said no to the question “Are you presently delinquent or in default on any Federal debt or any other loan, mortgage, financial obligation, bond, or loan guarantee?” She didn’t have any federal loans. But she had been notified multiple times about unpaid federal taxes.

The intent requirement for loan fraud is “knowingly” making false statements “for the purpose of influencing” the bank.

[Sarcastr0]

Sheeeeeeeit

[Ridgeway]

Well played

[floridalegal]

Legal consequences for a proud member of the ” rules for thee but not for me ” sect. Nice to see. Curious if there will be follow through or claims of persecution/ victimhood.