Marilyn and Nick Mosby
Appeals Court upholds redaction of names of donors to Nick and Marilyn Mosby’s legal defense fund
The Brew and Baltimore Sun argued that the city ethics board violated the Maryland Public Information Act by obscuring who gave money to help the elected officials fight a federal probe
Above: The amounts were disclosed but the names were blacked out of the list of donors to the Mosby 2021 Trust.
Hiding the names of donors to the legal defense fund for Nick and Marilyn Mosby did not violate the Maryland Public Information Act, the Appellate Court of Maryland has ruled.
The Brew and the Baltimore Sun had argued that the Public Information Act Compliance Board was correct in 2023 when it ordered the Baltimore Board of Ethics to release the names of 130-plus contributors to the online fundraising site for the Mosbys.
The court was considering the board’s argument that the names could be redacted based on a part of the act that allows material to be hidden if it is:
“. . . information about the finances of an individual, including assets, income, liabilities, net worth, bank balances, financial history or activities or creditworthiness.”
That provision of the act did not apply in this case, the media organizations contended.
The online contributions to help the two elected officials, then the subject of a federal criminal investigation, were small, one-time donations made by individuals with no reasonable expectation their actions would be private, The Brew and Sun argued.
The three-judge panel, which heard oral arguments in the case last month, disagreed.
“Because the names were redacted, we do not know if the donors made a single payment or multiple payments,” the judges noted, in their ruling.
“In any event, whether there was a single donation of money or multiple donations, disclosing that information provides information about a person’s financial activity,” the ruling continued.
“It also provides information that a person had an asset prior to the donation, and to the extent the donation was made by credit card, it gives information about a person’s liabilities.”
Restrained by Act
In reaching their conclusion, the judges said, they were constrained by the limitations of the act.
“Although appellants argue that the exemption against disclosure should not apply to donations to political persons,” the ruling stated, “it is not our role to add that exemption to the statute.”
Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore’s former state’s attorney, was convicted in 2023 and 2024 of perjury and mortgage fraud in two federal trials. She was sentenced to a year of home detention last May.
Ex-husband Nick Mosby (the couple divorced in 2023) was defeated in his bid for a second term as Baltimore City Council president last year.
He was appointed to a five-year term as a State Lottery and Gaming Control commissioner by Governor Wes Moore in March.
Marilyn and Nick Mosby’s legal defense fund was set up after they became the subjects of a federal corruption probe.