According to the indictment Mosby asked to be able to take money out of her retirement. This was permitted under the 2020 CARES Act if a person has "experienced adverse financial results" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indictment states that Mosby had a salary of almost $250,000 in 2020, and that she had received a $10,000 increase since 2019, indicating that she wasn't in financial hardship during the pandemic's early days.

Mosby's request for $36,000 was granted and $45,000 was added to her December 2020 retirement. Mosby used the money indictment claims to make down payments for two Florida vacation homes with mortgages of $490,000.500 and $428,000.400.

According to the indictment, Mosby did not disclose that she owed $45,000 in back taxes to the federal government when she applied. Mosby also claimed she was the primary residence of one of the homes for at least one calendar year. This allowed her to get a lower rate on her mortgage. She claimed she would be the principal resident of one Florida home, but she had already arranged a rental management agreement to let the place out.

Mosby made $150,000 in profit when he sold one of the Florida homes in November 2021.

The indictment states that Mosby claimed economic hardship, which her finances did not support, and that she used COVID-19-related relief to buy two Florida vacation homes, each valued at almost half-a million dollars. One of these properties was later sold for $150,000 profit. Considering her role as an elected official in Baltimore City, neither one of them would have been her primary residence.

The indictment against Nick Mosby, the husband of Mosby and Baltimore City Council President, has not been filed.

This means that while the Mosbys continue to solicit legal defense fund money, wealthy Baltimoreans will continue to govern as usual. Residents should trust that such donations won't have any influence on their official decision-making.

It was revealed last year that both the Mosbys were under federal investigation over a variety of tax issues. Although there is not much information about the nature of this investigation, it echoes the years of corruption in Baltimore, in which the federal government investigated and convicted former Mayor Catherine Pugh, former Baltimore State Delegate Cheryl Glenn, former Baltimore Police Chief Daryl DeSousa, and a number Baltimore Police Department detectives in a criminal conspiracy.

The Mosbys quickly mounted a public defense in response to the news about the investigation. They held press conferences and Black establishment leaders from both local and national, asking for public support and asking people to donate to their legal defence fund. The Mosbys didn't address potential conflicts of interests that this type of fundraising could create. The Mosbys will continue to govern as normal, even though they are soliciting money for legal defense funds from wealthy Baltimoreans. Residents should trust that these donations will not have any influence on their official decisions.

This is in addition to the conflict of interests that exists by virtue of the positions of the married couple within the larger apparatus for public governance. Nick Mosby, the president of the city council, approves Marilyn Mosby's budget.

The Mosbys and their supporters among the city's elites continue to argue that the Mosbys have been under attack for their progressive approach towards governance. This is in keeping with Marilyn Mosby's national reputation as a "progressive prosecutor", who in 2015 had boldly indicted six officers in the murder of Freddie Gray. Gray was a Black man who was chased and put in a van by police. He was then fatally wounded. However, Marilyn Mosby's reputation as a "progressive" local prosecutor has been questioned. While her bonafides in being one of few prosecutors to charge cops with killing police officers matters to many (and will forever define her), no one was found guilty. Mosby eventually dropped all charges, some even before they were brought to trial.

At the same time, Mosby has been the driving force behind the ongoing--and, many claim, malicious--prosecution of Keith Davis Jr., a Black man shot by police in 2015, later charged with a murder, and tried by Mosby's office four times so far. Davis's numerous trials have led to either hung juries, or convictions that were overturned. (Baltimore Magazine's article "The Many Trials of Keith Davis Jr." explains the full scope of this case.

Those who want Mosby to drop the charges against Davis, led by Kelly Davis, are quick to point out that Mosby has spent more time prosecuting one man than the cops accused of killing Freddie Gray.

All the charges against the cops were dropped by the end July 2016, just over a year since Gray was killed. Davis will be tried for the same murder in the next six years.

Mosby's knowledge about a corrupt group Baltimore Police officers involved with the Gun Trace Task Force scandal - a long-running criminal conspiracy that saw police officers rob residents, deal drugs, plant evidence and defraud the city of overtime wages - has been questioned for years. Mosby's State's Attorney's Office had relied on the testimony of many of these corrupt cops despite lengthy and often quite public integrity issues, and many argued Mosby had looked the other way to secure convictions of the hundreds of Baltimoreans--primarily young, Black men--involved in the city's underground economy.

There have been long-standing questions about Mosby’s knowledge of the corrupt Baltimore Police officers who were involved in the Gun Trace Task Force scam. This was a decades-long criminal conspiracy that saw police officers robbing residents and dealing drugs. They also planted evidence and defrauded the city of overtime pay.

Mosby continued to pursue some cases even after the Gun Trace Task Force officers were indicted. A couple whose condo was illegally burgled by the Gun Trace Task Force cops were set to face trial for heroin possession. They claimed that they had found heroin in their condo and had arrested them for possession.

Mosby's attorney argued that there was sufficient evidence to support the charges, which included almost 400 grams of heroin. The defense attorneys were stunned at the time. The case involved cops who were indicted for lying, robbing and stealing. They were also shown to have illegally entered a couple's house. The defense attorneys were unsure how a prosecutor could prove that the drugs weren't planted by cops who are accused of the most serious misconduct. After the story reached local news, Mosby's office dropped the charges.

Mosby has been criticised for refusing to dismiss all charges or release prisoners for crimes committed since the Gun Trace Task Force scandal. This was partly due to the claims made by a group cops currently in federal prison, who, among other things were false arrests and lied on affidavits. Local defense attorneys have challenged Mosby's office for refusing to give lawyers a list that she claims her office has of Baltimore cops who are insolvent. Baltimore Action Legal Team argued that this knowledge puts many Baltimoreans who are accused of crimes at disadvantage.

"In December 2019, [Mosby] identified the list of 305 officers who had questionable integrity that could be used in a prosecution or trial to get a conviction," Baltimore Action Legal Team's Matt Zernhelt said to Battleground Baltimore last January. "I believe it's in public interest to know which police officers have violated their trust in any capacity."

All this is to say that Mosby's indictment, and her long-standing argument about how she is being targeted because of her progressive policy choices raise many questions. Leo Wise is the prosecutor in Mosby’s indictment. He was also one among two prosecutors who indicted Gun Trace Task Force cops, as well as Pugh and Glenn and DeSousa.

A report was released just hours before Mosby's arrest. It was based on an extensive, independent investigation into the Gun Trace Task Force scandal. The report of 600 pages, "Anatomy the Gun Trace Task Force Scam: Its Causes, Origins and Consequences", contains a shocking account of misconduct and police corruption at almost every level.

Marilyn Mosby, an in-person reporter, held a press conference in her office today in which she claimed she was innocent of the indictment charges.

Mosby stated that he did not deceive anyone to steal my retirement savings money. Mosby stated, "I didn't lie on any mortgage application."

She didn't answer any questions from the media.

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By: Brandon Soderberg
Title: Battleground Baltimore: Making sense of the Marilyn Mosby indictment
Sourced From: therealnews.com/battleground-baltimore-making-sense-of-the-marilyn-mosby-indictment
Published Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022 23:55:53 +0000