Mark Smith, guilty of every federal corruption charge he faced, ‘looked down on poor people’

Attorney Mark Smith, now a federally convicted felon, did not like poor people though he profited from the public housing vouchers they provided to him, his former property manager told Kandit.

Gerino Taliman, Jr. likely provided the testimony that convinced the jury Mr. Smith was lying about the true ownership of apartments rented to Section 8 recipients while he was legal counsel for the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority. GHURA administers the Section 8 program, and Mr. Smith never received permission from GHURA’s federal counterpart, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue receiving Section 8 funds while providing GHURA legal advice about the Section 8 program.

His non-disclosure of his conflict of interest was not what constituted any crime. It was his attempt to conceal his actual ownership of the apartments and cover up his receipt of the rents paid on those apartments that led to his downfall.

He was indicted on March 14, 2017 by the United States Attorney on 56 counts of federal corruption charges, including wire fraud, theft of government property, conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering, and more.

Since then, Smith has maintained two defenses:

1) that he had no conflict of interest, and

2) that he did not actually own the apartments.

In his testimony before the jury at Smith’s rather lengthy November trial, Mr. Taliman said Smith told him that Smith continued to own the apartments, despite an appearance on paper that Smith had sold the apartments to his friend, Glenn Wong.

Mr. Taliman divulged that, “I remember him telling me that he’s still the owner of the apartments though.  It’s just he has to change the name because of GHURA’s policy.”  Mr. Taliman never wavered that, “Bottom line, he’s still the landlord.  He’s still the owner of the place though.”

In an exclusive interview with Kandit, Mr. Taliman explained more about who his former boss really is.  He once told me, “GHURA people are poor people,” Mr. Taliman said of Smith, adding that the disgraced lawyer looked down on people of little means, or who were on public assistance.

Taliman knew his old boss was guilty of the crimes the U.S. Attorney accused him of; and the jury of 12 trusted his testimony and that of several other witnesses, who each contributed to an unveiling of a man guilty of defrauding the federal government and taking advantage of the kind of people he, according to Mr. Taliman, looked down on.

On each count of the federal indictment, here is what the jury found:

• Guilty of Count 1 of the Indictment: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 2 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 3 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 4 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 5 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 6 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 7 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 8 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 9 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 10 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 11 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 12 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 13 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 14 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 15 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 16 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 17 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 18 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 19 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 20 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 21 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 22 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 23 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 24 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 25 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 26 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 27 of the Indictment: Wire fraud
• Guilty of Count 28 of the Indictment: Theft of government property
• Guilty of Count 29 of the Indictment: Conspiracy to commit money laundering
• Guilty of Count 30 of the Indictment: Engaging in monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity
• Guilty of Count 33 of the Indictment: Engaging in monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity
• Guilty of Count 34 of the Indictment: Engaging in monetary transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity
• Guilty of Count 38 of the Indictment: Laundering of monetary instruments
• Guilty of Count 45 of the Indictment: Laundering of monetary instruments

Guilty on every single count of the indictment. Judge Ramona Manglona scheduled Mr. Smith’s sentencing for March 8, 2022, and allowed him his freedom, with conditions, until then. If Mr. Smith’s sentences are handed down consecutively at the maximum for each count, he will never be a free man, and will die in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons.