Ex-Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby must forfeit condo ...

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GREENBELT – Former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby must forfeit her Longboat Key condominium, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Lydia K. Griggsby granted prosecutors’ motion to forfeit Mosby’s condo, finding evidence presented at trial supports the fact that Mosby could not have purchased the property without the $5,000 gift letter for which she was convicted of making false statements on her mortgage loan application.

Griggsby ruled that because 10% of the condo’s purchase price was funded by down payment, the same apportionment should apply to any appreciated value of the property. Therefore, 10% of the condo’s value should remain with Mosby, while the remaining value should be forfeited to the government.

Mosby purchased the Longboat Key condo in early 2021 for $476,000, which now has an estimated current market value of $886,084, according to one of Mosby’s court filings.

Griggsby rejected Mosby’s counsel’s 8th Amendment argument that the forfeiture is grossly inappropriate based on the relative value of the condo in comparison to the $5,000 gift letter that secured her mortgage.

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While there was no harm to the mortgage lender, Griggsby said, there was harm to the public because of Mosby’s role as an elected official at the time. The nature of the criminal act is a serious one, Griggsby said, and involves false statements made by Mosby as a licensed attorney while holding public office.

Prosecutors also asked to collect 90% of any rental income that Mosby would earn on the condo.

Mosby’s counsel indicated it intends to ask the court to stay the forfeiture order while her appeal is pending.

Maggie Grace, counsel for Mosby, said during Thursday’s hearing that the $5,000 gift letter was meant to prevent delay on the closing, and that testimony during the trial did not establish that Mosby would not have obtained a loan without the gift letter. Testimony simply established that Mosby would not have been cleared to close on her mortgage on that particular day, Grace said.

Grace noted that the proposed forfeiture is “more of a nuanced inquiry” and requires the court to look at both the tainted proceeds as well as the untainted funds. The fact that the lender has not been harmed, Grace said, is also a significant factor.

But prosecutors emphasized that Mosby was the principal actor in perjury and making a false statement to a mortgage lender, and was the only one to benefit from these acts.

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Stephanie Williamson, assistant U.S. attorney, said the overwhelming majority of Mosby’s condo was purchased with money she obtained from fraud. “But for” the mortgage, Williamson said, Mosby would not have the condo or the benefit of appreciation.

Williamson said the amount of the gift letter is a “red herring” because without the gift letter, she would not have obtained the mortgage.

Griggsby sentenced Mosby to 12 months of home confinement and three years of supervised release on her perjury and mortgage fraud convictions.

Mosby has argued the government failed to prove that she would not have obtained a mortgage for the condo but for the gift letter. Mosby has also claimed the sought forfeiture of her condo is grossly excessive given the conduct underlying the conviction is the use of a $5,000 gift letter.

A federal jury found Mosby guilty in February of mortgage fraud after previously being convicted of perjury at her first trial in November last year.

In February, jurors found Mosby lied when she submitted a gift letter in 2021 claiming that her then-husband would send her $5,000 when she closed on a condo in Florida. In fact, prosecutors said, the money came from Mosby herself.

On the perjury charge, jurors found Mosby lied about experiencing a pandemic-related financial loss to withdraw money from her city retirement account under the CARES Act.

Though a federal judge split the charges into two separate trials, prosecutors said the charges were linked: Mosby lied to withdraw the retirement money, which she used to put down payments on a pair of luxury Florida vacation homes, and lied about her finances when she applied for mortgages on the properties.

In addition to the Longboat Key condo, Mosby also purchased a $545,000 house near Disney World in Kissimmee in the summer of 2020. Mosby previously sold the Kissimmee house for a profit.