Listen to this articleGREENBELT — Marilyn Mosby trusted all the wrong people.
At least, that’s what Baltimore’s former top prosecutor told jurors Wednesday during hours of revealing testimony at her federal mortgage fraud trial.
Mosby’s mortgage broker gave her bad advice about how to fill out loan applications, she claimed. And critically, Mosby said her ex-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, misled her for years about having the couple’s taxes under control.
Marilyn Mosby trials: Complete coverage
“My understanding of our taxes was that we were in an installment agreement with the IRS,” Mosby told jurors. “That’s what Nick told me… He assured me, even prior to me applying for a mortgage, that we were up to date on our installment agreement.”
Now on trial for mortgage fraud, Mosby pointed the blame for her legal troubles at everyone but herself, even as she acknowledged that she did not carefully read all of the documents she signed when she bought two Florida vacation properties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At the time, did you feel you had good reason to trust the people you did?” asked Mosby’s lawyer, Federal Public Defender James Wyda.
“Yes,” Mosby replied.
“Sitting here today, do you think you have less trust because of that?” Wyda asked.
“Yes,” Mosby said.
Mosby, 44, is accused of making a string of false statements when she applied for mortgages on a pair of Florida vacation properties in 2020 and early 2021. She and her husband at the time, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, owed tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS, which placed a $45,000 lien on their Baltimore property in 2020.
Marilyn Mosby didn’t mention the debt or the lien when she sought mortgages in Florida.
She also told other lies, prosecutors say. She promised to maintain control over the first property, a house near Disney World in Kissimmee, but also signed over management of the home to a company that handled vacation home rentals.
She claimed she received a $5,000 gift from her husband in order to lock in an interest rate on the second property, a condo near the Gulf of Mexico, but in fact sent the money to his account herself before he transferred it back to make it look like a gift, the indictment charges. And she claimed she had been living in Florida for 70 days before buying the condo despite not having been in the state for nearly a month, Delaney said in court.
Mosby’s ex-husband, Nick Mosby, took responsibility for the couple’s tax debt when he testified for the defense on Thursday and Monday. (The court does not sit on Fridays.)
Nick Mosby said he lied to his wife for years about his deepening financial problems and his stalled efforts to pay back the IRS. In legal arguments during cross-examination, the prosecution also accused Nick Mosby of lying repeatedly on his taxes, though he is not facing any criminal charges.
This story will be updated.
