BALTIMORE -- Marilyn Mosby's perjury trial has focused on allegations that she lied about COVID impacting her Mahogany Elite travel business. That allowed her to withdraw thousands of dollars from her retirement account—penalty free—to buy two vacation homes in Florida. 

While jurors never heard Mosby testify in the case, they did hear her voice in several recorded phone calls with her retirement plan's customer service representatives as she tried to get the money. 

The court publicly released five phone calls used as evidence in the case. They are from August, May, and December of 2020.

During a call from August 2020, Mosby asks questions about how she can get a withdrawal. 

"Yeah, I need the emergency withdrawal option if you have that written out because I have the documents. …In it, it specifies that 'You may withdraw funds when you…' and it gives you three different scenarios," Mosby tells the representative for Nationwide. "But the second one is really what my mortgage—the underwriter for the lending agency—is looking for: Experience a qualifying unforeseeable emergency that would cause you to [have] a financial hardship."

Mosby asked, "Is the COVID exception still applicable, and how long is it going to be there?"

In a call from May 2020, Mosby said, "I want to know about the loan process, and I want to know how to access those instructions for whatever that process is online."

Prosecutors have alleged that Mahogany Elite was a sham and that Mosby never intended to operate it and never took on a single client. 

In a call from December 2020, Mosby told a customer service representative, "Now, I'm in a situation where I need this money, and I'm trying to figure out if there's anything that I can do in order to start the process and to get it."

The representative responded, "You haven't submitted a form for the COVID paperwork?"

"No, I can do that," Mosby said. "I can do that right now."

Mosby later said, "I had a very lengthy conversation with the representative who explained to me what my options were. He told me about the CARES Act provision, and he explained to me what my deadline was if, in fact, I needed to take out additional money."

Mosby's attorneys have argued that she is innocent and agreed with the terms under penalty of perjury to get the loan because she believed she qualified for the relief. 

Federal public defender James Wyda played one of the calls during his closing argument. He wanted to show jurors that Mosby was asking questions about the withdrawals because she wanted to make sure she was eligible and appropriately following the guidelines. 

He said the COVID relief loan program provided "limited guidance" on eligibility and noted more than 700 other city employees took withdrawals under the same plan.

They also said Mosby spent money trying to get the company off the ground, including for a website and licensing the business.

A jury found Mosby guilty of two counts of perjury on Thursday.

You can see and hear the evidence in the case here: https://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/mosby-exhibits-11-06-23