Baltimore City Council President fights allegations of ethics violations in court

BALTIMORE - After months of legal proceedings and some delays, Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby had a court hearing Monday where his attorney tried to fight off allegations of ethics violations.

The Baltimore City Board of Ethics argued that Council President Mosby violated three sections of the city's ethics code, after a legal defense fund was established by a third party to provide financial support for Mosby and his wife, former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

During an approximately hour-long hearing Monday, the judge listened to arguments from both sides, then agreed with the Baltimore City Ethics Board that Nick Mosby violated Section 6-26 of the city's ethics guidelines. 

The section prohibits a politician from soliciting or facilitating a gift from a city contractor.

No gift was ever directly given to Mosby, but a donation was made by at least two city contractors to a fund where Mosby and his wife were named as beneficiaries.

The judge said once Council President Mosby found out about the fundraiser,  he should have publicly disavowed it.

The judge also agreed with the board that Council President Mosby violated Section 7-22 of the city's ethics code which requires public servants to publicly disclose business entities in which they hold an interest.

The judge said once Nick Mosby found out about the fund that was set up by a third party, he could have disclaimed any interest. 

But because Mosby didn't disavow the fund when he found out in August of 2021, he immediately had an ownership interest, and he had a duty to disclose the existence of the trust on ethics forms.

Nick Mosby's team had one win in court when the judge said the ethics board was wrong when it concluded that the council president knowingly took gifts.

The ethics board's lawyer said about $14,000 was raised on behalf of the Mosbys, but the judge said even though money was raised for the Mosbys, there's no evidence that the couple took it. 

The judge called the evidence in this section of the proceedings "extremely weak."

The judge said he will leave it up to the Baltimore City Board of Ethics to determine if any type of enforcement action will be taken against the city council president.