Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby's arraignment expected in federal COVID-19 relief perjury case: report

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Exposing the failures of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby

Mosby Challenger: Mosby refuses to prosecute crimes like attempted car theft and narcotics distribution.

Baltimore’s top prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, is expected to make her first court appearance this week on federal charges alleging she lied about experiencing COVID-19-related financial hardships to draw from a city fund and made false statements on mortgage applications to purchase vacation homes in Florida. 

Mosby, sworn in as the 25th State’s Attorney for Baltimore at the start of 2015, has refused to resign over the federal indictment handed down earlier this month. The 41-year-old is expected to appear for her arraignment this week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Fox 45 of Baltimore reported. 

It remains unclear what plea she plans to enter. A grand jury on Jan. 13 returned an indictment for Mosby on federal charges of perjury and making false mortgage applications relating to the purchases of two vacation homes in Florida, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron announced. 

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Mosby’s gross salary in 2020 was $247,956, and it was never reduced, according to the indictment. 

Yet, she still requested coronavirus-related withdrawals in the amounts of $40,000 and $50,000 from the City of Baltimore’s deferred compensation plans. She allegedly falsely verified that she met at least one of the qualifications for a distribution as defined under the CARES Act. 

In this Oct. 23, 2019, file photo, Maryland State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby speaks during a service for late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings at Morgan State University in Baltimore. ( AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Mosby is also accused of making false statements in applications for a $490,500 mortgage to purchase a home in Kissimmee, Fla., and for a $428,400 mortgage to purchase a condominium in Long Boat Key, Fla. 

She allegedly failed to disclose that she and her husband, Nick Mosby, president of the Baltimore City Council, also allegedly had unpaid federal taxes in the amount of $45,022 or that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had placed a lien against all property and rights to property for that amount. Nick Mosby is not charged in the case. 

Marilyn Mosby also allegedly falsely executed a "second home rider" on the Kissimmee vacation home so that she could obtain a lower interest rate on the mortgage for the property. 

During her rise as a progressive Democrat in Maryland, Mosby has previously been praised and supported by Vice President Kamala Harris, and the two were photographed together at a Congressional Black Caucus dinner three years ago. Harris is not involved in the federal indictment for Mosby and has not commented on the matter targeting her former protegee. 

Mosby gained national attention in 2015 when she served as a prosecutor in the case of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died in police custody. Six police officers charged by Mosby in the case were all later acquitted and reinstated to their jobs.

Mosby denied any wrongdoing and said the federal investigation served as retribution for her handling of Gray's case and other criminal justice reform policies ushered in during her tenure, NPR reported. 

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If convicted, Mosby faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of two counts of perjury and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison for each of two counts of making false mortgage applications, federal prosecutors said. 

Kurt Nachtman, a former prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s office, told Fox 45 that a plea deal is always possible, though Mosby does not seem interested in one. Nachtman says electing to go to federal trial and losing could result in a heftier sentence. 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.