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Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby addresses the media outside her office on a day after her indictment on federal perjury charges on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. A lawyer for Baltimore’s top prosecutor, A. Scott Bolden, has outlined her defense against federal criminal charges stemming from her purchase of two Florida vacation homes. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
Embattled Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby will make a virtual court appearance Friday, her first scheduled hearing since being federally indicted on perjury and false statements charges.
Mosby’s initial appearance is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Mazzone, who is seated in the Northern District of West Virginia.
Initial appearances are generally brief, pro-forma hearings that mark the beginning of a criminal prosecution in federal court. Mazzone will likely decide on conditions for Mosby’s pretrial release at the hearing.
The long-rumored indictment against Mosby appeared earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The city’s top prosecutor faces two counts each of perjury and making false statements on loan applications.
The indictment alleged that Mosby falsely claimed to have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to request withdrawals from her city of Baltimore employee retirement account in 2020.
Mosby, whose salary was unaffected during the pandemic, allegedly used the withdrawals to make down payments on two Florida properties.
She is also accused of failing to disclose a $45,000 IRS lien for unpaid taxes when she signed applications for mortgages on the properties, which were located in Kissimmee and Long Boat Key.
Mosby and her lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, have attacked the prosecution as politically and racially motivated. Mosby is up for reelection this year.
“This indictment is merely a political ploy by my political adversaries to unseat me,” Mosby said at a news conference the day after her indictment. “Please also understand that I will never let that happen without a fight.”
Her defense team includes Bolden, who is a partner at the D.C. law firm Reed Smith LLP, and a number of other lawyers from the firm.
Bolden has also told the media that Mosby had “other business interests” that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, though he has declined to offer many details.
Mosby remained under the specter of a federal investigation for months as a flurry of subpoenas dug into financial records, charitable contributions and a private travel and consulting business that she started in 2019, according to reporting by the Baltimore Brew.
Mosby’s husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, was also investigated but has not been indicted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise, who has become known for his aggressive pursuit of public corruption cases, is prosecuting Marilyn Mosby.
