Baltimore’s Former Top Prosecutor Found Guilty of Perjury
A jury on Thursday found a former top prosecutor for Baltimore guilty of two federal perjury counts for lying about her financial difficulties to receive $90,000 from a restricted city retirement account for people with money troubles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marilyn Mosby— who made national headlines after prosecuting the Baltimore officers involved in the case of Freddie Gray, a Black man who died in police custody in 2015—was indicted in January 2022, with prosecutors claiming she’d secured the funds by falsely claiming her travel business had been adversely impacted by the COVID pandemic. During closing arguments on Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky said, “When the world was suffering, Ms. Mosby took advantage… to purchase $1 million worth of Florida vacation homes.” Defense attorneys argued that Mosby didn’t deceive the city because her private travel business, Mahogany Elite Enterprises, had actually lost money, but Zelinsky said that her business “produced no income, it had no customers, no emails, no vendors, no notes, no business plan.” He later questioned, “Does that sound like an open and operable business to you?” James Wyda, a lawyer for Mosby, declined to comment to the Associated Press due to a gag order.
