Disgraced former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby cried deeply when she was convicted of mortgage fraud, meaning she now faces decades in prison.
Mosby, a Democrat, was convicted Tuesday of using a false claim of COVID hardship to tap her retirement funds to buy two vacation homes in Florida.
The former chief prosecutor, who served two terms as Baltimore’s state attorney, was found guilty Tuesday of one count of mortgage fraud for lying on financial documents related to a luxury condo she bought in Long Boat Key, located on Florida’s Gulf Coast .
She began to cry when she was acquitted on one count – and then let out a sad sob when she was convicted of the second charge she faced, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Mosby was convicted of perjury last year. She faces up to 30 years in prison for mortgage fraud and an additional 10 years for perjury convictions, with sentencing yet to be scheduled.
Experts say it is unlikely she will serve a 40-year prison sentence, but say the two felony convictions mean it is highly likely she will receive a prison sentence.
Former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby leaves a Maryland court Tuesday after being found guilty of one count of mortgage fraud for lying on financial documents
Mosby, a progressive whose soft-on-crime approach was blamed for rising crime in murder-plagued Baltimore, claimed her then-husband gave her $5,000 to acquire the Gulf Coast estate in order to get a lower interest rate.
But prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland said evidence showed she wired the money to her former husband and then sent the money back to herself in a financial magic trick.
The disgraced former top lawyer testified that she unknowingly made false statements on loan applications to buy the homes in the Sunshine State.
Jurors deliberated most of the day and announced a split verdict finding her not guilty of a second charge of mortgage fraud involving a property in Kisseme, Florida.
Mosby was previously convicted of two counts of perjury in a separate criminal trial that took place in November.
Marily Mosby served two terms as Baltimore’s state attorney. She is seen speaking to the media after a judge quashed the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who was serving a 20-year prison sentence for strangling his then 18-year-old girlfriend.
The luxury condo in Longboat Key, Florida, was the property Mosby lied about on mortgage documents
The federal criminal charges stemmed from allegations that Mosby claimed a pandemic-related hardship to make early withdrawals from her retirement account, then used those funds for down payments on the Florida properties.
Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky alleged that she repeatedly lied on the mortgage applications, telling the court, “She was the top prosecutor in the city of Baltimore and oversaw hundreds of attorneys.
“You know what prosecutors know a lot about? Fraud. Mortgage fraud.”
They said Mosby earned a gross salary of $247,000 per year and her income did not decline during the COVID pandemic, although she claimed the pandemic damaged her various side businesses.
Mosby served two terms as state’s attorney for Baltimore and earned a national profile for her progressive policies and several high-profile decisions.
She has filed charges against the police officers involved in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, which sparked widespread protests against police brutality. No one was convicted.
Mosby lost reelection in 2022 after she was indicted by a federal grand jury, with her successor Ivan Bates taking a tougher stance on crime.
If convicted of mortgage fraud, she faces up to 30 years in prison. For the perjury case, she faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each of the two federal charges
The mortgage fraud trial, which began in mid-January, was moved from Baltimore to Green Belt, Maryland, over concerns that potential jurors may have been skewed 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 ashamed.
Marilyn Mosby testified that she did not intentionally make false statements and signed the loan applications in good faith. Having never purchased real estate before, she said she trusted real estate professionals and her husband during a stressful time.
Mosby’s failure to disclose these debts on her loan applications contributed to the mortgage fraud charge, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors also alleged that she lied about receiving a $5,000 gift from her then-husband, which allowed her to receive a lower interest rate.
The alleged gift, which prosecutors said was traced back to her own account, led to her conviction, The Sun reported.
To obtain a conviction, prosecutors had to prove that 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, another jury found that 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 ruled those claims were invalid.
During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Mosby knowingly told seven different lies on the mortgage applications in an attempt to convince lenders to give her the loans and a lower interest rate she needed to buy the two properties. WBAL TV reported.
They claimed that Mosby knew exactly what she was doing the entire time.
