Lordt. The FBI is coming after Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh, raiding her homes and Baltimore City Hall. And it all has to do with sales from a children's book she authored. More inside...
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is seemingly in deep ish.
According to reports, the FBI and IRS agents raided TWO of her homes and Baltimore City Hall to determine whether she used sales of her children's books to disguise government kickbacks.
The Democratic mayor has taken a leave of absence amid a scandal over the sale of her children's book. They're also searching the Maryland Center for Adult Training, a non-profit the mayor has worked with and the home of Gary Brown - a former Pugh aide - according to FBI spokesperson Dave Fitz.
When the FBI pulled up on the mayor at one of her homes, she was there.
Folks have been lighting Mayor Pugh up with calls for her to resign over the scandal. Earlier this month, Baltimore's city council called for her to resign as well. Pugh reportedly sold $500,000 worth of the books to the $4 billion hospital network over the years, and meanwhile pushed legislation that would have benefited the regional system, according to the Associated Press.
As a board member of the University of Maryland Medical System, the medical system spent $500,000 to fund the purchase of some 100,000 books from Pugh's company Healthy Holly LLC, a spokesman for the medical system has confirmed.
Not only that, Pugh reportedly received about $114,000 from Kaiser Permanente for some 20,000 books from 2015 to 2018, according to the health care provider. Kaiser Permanente said it sent the books to back-to-school fairs, elementary schools, communities of faith and early childhood education and care centers. Associated Black Charities - a public foundation that works to encourage healthier and more prosperous communities - reportedly spent spent $80,000 to purchase about 10,000 copies of Pugh's books between 2011 and 2016.
At the time of this post, Mayor Pugh has not been indicted for any crime. No arrests have been made in connection with raids.
It's unclear how long the criminal investigation will take. It's reported the mayor looks forward to cooperating with the state prosecutor’s investigation and will provide “as much information as possible to put this matter to rest.”
Thoughts?
Photos: AP/Getty
source: theybf
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