Ex-top prosecutor for Baltimore convicted on mortgage fraud count

A federal jury on Tuesday convicted Marilyn Mosby, the former top prosecutor in Baltimore, on one count of mortgage fraud and was acquitted on another charge related to the sale of two luxury vacation homes in Florida.

Authorities alleged that Mosby made false statements to mortgage lenders when purchasing the houses in Kissimmee, Fla., just outside of Walt Disney World, and Long Boat Key, Fla., according to multiple reports.

Mosby, who served two terms as state’s attorney for Baltimore, was convicted in November on charges that she lied about the finances of a side business and accessed funds from the CARES Act during the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s retirement plan to use it for the homes. She was convicted of two counts of perjury, The Associated Press reported.

She is appealing the perjury convictions and faces potential prison time when she is sentenced sometime this year, the Washington Post reported.

Prosecutors said Mosby failed to disclose that she had unpaid federal taxes, and the IRS placed a $45,000 lien against her properties. She testified that she was aware of the unpaid taxes when she submitted her first loan application in July 2020 but said she was misled by her husband.

The former lawyer said she did not read all the documents when she closed on the Kissimmee home in September 2020, but what Mosby tried to pass off as inexperience, prosecutors said was “willful blindness,” the Post reported.

During her tenure as the top attorney in the state, Mosby received national attention for her progressive policies. She prosecuted Baltimore police officers after a Black man, Freddie Gray, died in police custody in 2015. None of the officers were convicted, and Gray’s death led to protests in the city, the AP reported.

Mosby faces up to 30 years in prison for the Tuesday conviction, local reporters posted online.