Nick and Marilyn Mosby say that Marilyn’s 84-year-old grandmother wrote the check that The Brew disclosed was listed as coming from Marilyn’s dead grandfather.

The couple called this and another contribution – both attributed in their campaign reports to a “retired” Prescott Thompson of Dorchester, Mass., who died on February 22, 2015 – a “simple administrative oversight.”

“The campaigns should have listed Mrs. Thompson as the contributor since the contributions came from her,” they said.

The joint statement from Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who is set to go on federal trial on unrelated perjury and false statement charges, and her husband, City Council President Nick Mosby, were in response to yesterday’s article about the contributions.

The article also described a $58,000 bank loan to the Mosbys partly secured through the late Prescott Thompson’s ownership interest in the couple’s Baltimore house.

• Giving from the grave? Marilyn Mosby’s dead grandfather contributed to her and her husband’s campaigns (3/23/22)

Unanswered Questions

Their statement did not address a number of questions raised to them by the Brew before yesterday’s story was posted.

As of this morning, these questions have not been answered:

• Why did “Thompson Prescott” (a reversed version of the grandfather’s real name) appear on campaign records as a $500 donor to Nick Mosby?

The Mosbys now say the check was signed by his widow, Marilyn Thompson, but they did not say how and why the name got scrambled.

• Why did Nick Mosby sign a notarized deed of trust in 2021 as POA (power of attorney) for the Estate of Prescott Thompson when his POA status had expired upon Thompson’s death in 2015?

The document, deeding the late Thompson’s interests in the Mosby house as security, helped the couple obtain a $58,000 loan from The Harbor Bank of Maryland last April, a month after they were notified that they were the targets of a federal criminal investigation.

• Does Nick Mosby still retain the power of attorney over Marilyn Thompson, which he first secured from the Thompsons in 2004 when he was engaged to her granddaughter?

Maryland Board of Elections records show that, since they entered elective office, Nick and Marilyn Mosby have received more than $8,000 in campaign contributions attributed to Marilyn’s grandparents.

The Brew also requested copies of the recent campaign checks that the Mosbys said were signed by Mrs. Thompson.

They have not yet responded to this request.

Full Statement

The Mosbys asked yesterday that we publish their statement in its entirety “to provide contextual understanding of our response to your readers.”

Here it is:

The donation in question was provided to both campaigns from the widow of the late Prescott Thompson. It’s common practice for campaign donation filings to associate the name listed first on a bank check as the contributor, but in this case, the campaigns should have listed Mrs. Thompson since the contribution came from her and she signed the check. This is a simple administrative oversight. The account is still active with exsiting [sic] checks that bear the name of widow and deceased; however the campaign report will be administratively updated.

— Nick and Marilyn Mosby