Andy Radding Speaks to Baltimore Sun on Mortgage Fraud Trial – Technologist

BGL attorney Andy Radding was again tapped as a legal authority in a recent story published The Baltimore Sun about former State’s Attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Mosby’s upcoming mortgage fraud trial.

In November 2023, Mosby was found guilty of perjury in lying about hardships tied to the pandemic to withdraw her retirement funds. Now, she is preparing for her second trial – this time, centered on mortgage fraud charges. The jury of Mosby’s second trial will focus on her real estate purchases in Florida. Prosecutors say she misled lenders by making false statements on mortgage applications for two properties, as reported by The Sun. Mosby’s defense attorneys, however, contend didn’t knowingly lie and is innocent of the charges.

According to text messages acquired by The Sun, Mosby saw an opportunity to purchase real estate when COVID-19 hit in Spring 2020. However, the article asserts, when she didn’t have enough money to close on the properties she was interested in, she turned to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act allowed government employees to access money from their retirement savings fund if they experienced pandemic-related financial hardship, something they could only do before the pandemic if they quit, died, or retired.

Because of this, Mosby was able to withdraw $36,000 from her retirement fund shortly after requesting assistance. Before doing so, she certified under the penalty of perjury that she suffered “adverse financial consequences” because of the pandemic.

In her mortgage applications, Mosby certified she didn’t have any federal debts. However, prosecutors assert that she and her ex-husband, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, had accrued roughly $69,000 in unpaid taxes and the IRS placed a lien on their Baltimore home.

Mosby’s defense attorneys claim that she was not aware of the tax debt and that they were her ex-husband’s responsibility. Therefore, they plan to argue that Marilyn did not knowingly lie on the mortgage applications.

The Sun reached out to Andy, one of the Baltimore region’s most prominent criminal defense and complex litigation attorneys, for his insight on how having Nick Mosby as a witness could impact the defense’s argument.

“They need him,” said Andy said, who is not involved in the case. “If they get him on [the witness stand], and he says ‘I did the taxes. She didn’t even look at them. She just signed them. She didn’t know there was a lien. I didn’t tell her,’” Andy told The Sun it would be helpful to the defense’s case.

Andy told The Sun that while Mosby’s story would be the clearest through her own voice, allowing her to testify is a risky decision for the defense, because Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ruled that prosecutors could ask her about her perjury conviction.

“I don’t see her taking the stand,” Andy continued. “I don’t see how she can help herself.”

“If Mosby slipped up during questions from her attorneys,” Andy added, “the prosecutors can go after everything.”

Over the past five decades, Andy’s litigation work has spanned a variety of practice areas including white-collar criminal defense, family law, intellectual property, estates, and business disputes. He has expanded his focus on complex disputes to provide legal counsel to professional service providers in licensing and ethics disputes. Andy’s varied and extensive experience has earned him a reputation of being a fierce advocate for his clients. The nation’s leading journalists often tap Andy as an authority on noteworthy cases due to his extensive work in especially complex forms of litigation.

Learn more about Andy and his practice here.

Read the full story from The Baltimore Sun here.

Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.