This story really hasn’t gotten a lot of traction, but it really is something. If you missed Twitchy’s previous coverage, former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh made a killing on sales of her self-published “Healthy Holly” children’s books; for example, she sold 100,000 copies at a total cost of $500,000 to the University of Maryland Medical System, on whose board she was sitting at the time. Also, the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund puchased $7,500 worth of copies shortly before Pugh successfully sponsored legislation sought by the company.
More? Kaiser Permanente, which was seeking a city contract, also purchased more than $100,000 worth of the mayor’s self-published books, and a local nonprofit that won a big city contract just happened to purchase $87,000 worth. But when reporters tried to track down copies of this amazing best-selling series, they found 8,700 unsolicited and unopened boxes of “Health Holly” books at a decrepit Baltimore School District Warehouse.
Pugh eventually resigned after the scandal broke, and now federal prosecutors are asking for nearly five years in prison for the former mayor.
New: Federal prosecutors asking for nearly five years in prison for former Mayor Catherine Pugh, and lay out an array of new details about her fraud case in document that spans more than 90 pages including exhibits https://t.co/iwzzAu2G06
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) February 13, 2020
Pugh’s “personal inventory" of Healthy Holly books never exceeded 8,216 copies, prosecutors say. But through a three-dimensional scheme, they say, she was able to resell 132,116 copies for a total of $859,960. https://t.co/ZqZ0bZJr6G
— Colin Campbell ☀️ (@cmcampbell6) February 13, 2020
Who knew Cathy Pugh? This scheme was either stunning in its audacity or dumb and doomed to exposure. With everyone going along, throwing money at the Mayor, buying her awful books, she must have thought she’d never get caught. Now prison awaits. https://t.co/JkQZeRdh0Z
— Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun, News Guild (@DanRodricks) February 13, 2020
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Included is a scene from the April 2019 raid, in which agents came to seize her phone. She gave them her city issued phone; they wanted her personal phone, which she said she did not have. They then called the number and it started ringing under the bed
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) February 13, 2020
Baltimore's former mayor Catherine Pugh upon being served a warrant for her cell phone and telling agents she didn't have it pic.twitter.com/379mCPds5y
— Political Capital (@PolitcalCapitaI) February 14, 2020
But wait, there’s more!
It wasn’t only Healthy Holly LLC that Catherine Pugh used as a conduit for illegal contributions to her 2016 mayoral campaign, according to a sentencing memorandum prosecutors filed Thursday in federal court in Baltimore. https://t.co/upXCwsU3nL
— Talia Richman ☀️ (@TaliRichman) February 14, 2020
Catherine Pugh used the boutique she co-owned with the city comptroller to conceal illegal donations, prosecutors say.https://t.co/UwqLD6DeAB
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) February 14, 2020
Do we need to mention that Pugh is a Democrat? Didn’t think so.
This story about the corrupt Mayor of Baltimore's sentencing is remarkable. But what really gets me is her predecessor left office after embezzling gift cards meant for poor people — and now she's running for mayor again.https://t.co/Q8fHom3nCT
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) February 14, 2020
Related:
FINALLY: Democratic Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh resigns over ‘Healthy Holly’ scandal https://t.co/6tFNLlQl7w
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 2, 2019
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