The FBI Baltimore office and IRS Criminal Division searched Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh’s home, a business address, an aide’s home, and Baltimore City Hall, an FBI spokesman said.
Three FBI agents were seen entering and exiting the home, and removing boxes from garages, WBALTV reported at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.
Nearby, agents served a search warrant at a home where Pugh lived for years, which is linked to the Healthy Holly scandal.
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Healthy Holly is the heroine of a series of children’s books by Pugh
that she sold for $500,000 to the University of Maryland Medical System, whose board she served on while she was a public official.
Pugh has been accused of not properly disclosing the Healthy Holly business in ethics forms, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Pugh likened the case to a witch hunt. She resigned this year from the University of Maryland Medical System’s board and said she returned $100,000.
In addition to the University of Maryland, Health provider Kaiser Permanente paid Pugh more than $100,000 for her books. This was at a time when the city’s spending board, which Pugh controls, awarded the company a $48 million contract to provide health insurance to city employees, according to USA Today.
The nonprofit Associated Black Charities says it collected nearly $90,000 to buy and distribute Pugh’s books, forwarding nearly $80,000 to Pugh’s company and keeping the rest.