Judge upholds Marilyn Mosby’s mortgage fraud conviction, orders her to surrender passport

By CNN Newsource

Published February 17, 2024 1:57 PM

By Adam Thompson, Mike Hellgren, Christian Olaniran, Amy Kawata

BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — A judge upheld Marilyn Mosby’s mortgage fraud conviction Friday—rejecting a defense motion to acquit the former Baltimore City State’s Attorney.

Mosby must now surrender her passport ahead of sentencing.

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren reports supporters arrived by bus and packed the courtroom. They prayed outside federal court as Mosby headed inside.

But those prayers were not answered with an acquittal of the former top Baltimore City prosecutor.

Mosby’s public defenders argued her conviction for mortgage fraud involving a condo on Florida’s Gulf Coast should be thrown out.

They told Judge Lydia K. Griggsby that prosecutors could not prove lies involving a $5,000 gift her then-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, gave her to close on the property were made in Maryland.

Defense attorney Maggie Grace told the judge that Mosby “could have signed the gift letter in Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania or Washington, D.C.” She called the government’s presumption Mosby was in Maryland “speculation.”

Federal prosecutors pointed to Mosby’s Bank of America transactions and her job in Baltimore leading the state’s attorney’s office.

They noted a Cockeysville Five Guys purchase made just days before the gift letter was signed.

“We literally don’t see any movement outside Maryland at all,” prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told the judge.

Responding to a defense argument about the validity of bank charges, Zelinsky said “We don’t believe we need an expert about a Five Guys in Cockeysville.”

University of Maryland Carey School of Law Professor Doug Colbert observed some of the trial.

“I think it was very close legal issue here and it is a very good issue for the appeals court to consider,” Colbert told Hellgren. “Trial judges are extemely reluctant to overturn the verdict of a trial jury. This particular issue will be given full consideration by the appeals court.”

Asked if Mosby will appeal, Colbert said “Absolutely, she’ll appeal, and on the law, she has a very strong argument.”

Mosby did not answer WJZ’s questions as she left court after losing her argument. She was again surrounded by supporters.

She thanked them before leaving in her SUV.

“You’re going to come after this one Black woman over a gift letter? Come on now, that is ridiculous,” said supporter Josephine Mourning.

“We know her soul. We know her spirit. She is our sister, our leader,” said supporter Nia 2X with the National Action Network.

The judge also ordered Mosby to surrender her passport by next week. Her lawyers fought that, saying she had a travel business and may need to get away from the media after the “stress” of the trial.

“It’s unnecessary to restrict her freedom,” public defender James Wyda said. “It’s unfathomable she would leave her two daughters, the most important people in her life.”

Mosby faces up to 40 years in prison when she is sentenced on May 23, but defendants rarely get the maximum sentence.

“If they really were concerned about her being a flight risk, why didn’t they take the passport in the very beginning? Do you know why they’re taking it now? They’re taking it now to further rub dirt in her eye,” one of her supporters said leaving court.

Prosecutors said the passport should have been taken away two years ago following initial hearings after they filed charges.

Mosby has testified she will appeal at least the perjury conviction.