ST. LOUISÌý— Former St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë Alderman Brandon Bosley is facing additional criminal charges, according to a new federal indictment unsealed Thursday, including lying to the FBI as they were investigating him for a car insurance fraud scheme.
Bosley was charged in June 2023 with three counts of wire fraud in what prosecutors say was part of a scheme toÌýinflate the repair bill in an insurance claim for a Toyota Prius that he had purchased on the cheap from a convenience store owner in his ward. The store ownerÌýalso was a federal informant.
The new indictment adds a count of wire fraud and a charge of making false statements to the FBI.ÌýIt contains little additional information beyond the first indictment, which includes recorded conversations Bosley had with the informant about inflating his car repair bill.Ìý
The new charges against a member of one of the city’s most prominent political families were filed as Bosley’s Nov. 4 trial date was fast approaching. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith is prosecuting the case, and a spokesman for the office, Robert Patrick, declined to comment.ÌýBosley’s lawyer, Diane Dragan, did not respond to a request for comment.Ìý
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The case against Bosley has dragged on for more than a year, and the new charges could indicate Bosley has resisted a plea deal. The victim, a car insurance company, may not elicit much sympathy from a jury.
Bosley was one of several area political figures charged in a wide-ranging corruption probe that ultimately sent former St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, Alderman John Collins-Muhammad and Alderman Jeffrey Boyd to prison for accepting bribes. They have all since been released.
µþ´Ç²õ±ô±ð²âÌýwas charged a year after the indictments of his former colleagues. The indictment appeared to rely on the cooperation of the same informant, which the Post-Dispatch has identified as north side convenience store owner Muhammed Almuttan, but it did not include the same egregious allegations of accepting cash bribes.
Instead, Bosley’s charges center around a scheme with the informant, who also owned a car repair shop in Bridgeton and a used car business in Jennings, to total out the former alderman’s Prius after it was struck by another vehicle in order to claim an $8,000 cash payout on the claim. Bosley had purchased the car for only $500 from the garage owner, despite the owner buying the car at auction and repairing it for a total cost of $4,900.
Almuttan also owned a convenience store in Bosley’s ward in north St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë. And Bosley later passed a bill lifting a liquor license moratorium in his ward after discussions with the informant.Ìý
Bosley is from one of St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë’s most storied political families. His brother, Freeman Bosley Jr., was the city’s first Black mayor. His father, Freeman Bosley Sr., represented the north side neighborhoods around Hyde Park for decades before the younger Bosley succeeded him.Ìý
The Post-Dispatch first reported Bosley was under investigation in February 2023 after obtaining aÌýfederal search warrant that described a $2,000 payment from Almuttan to an unidentified public official’s assistant in exchange for a support letter for a tax break. The newspaper identified the anonymous public official as Bosley, who in 2020 wrote a letter of support for tax abatement on the Shell gas station Almuttan owned on North Florissant Avenue, though the tax break was never granted. Bosley told the newspaper he never accepted any cash from Almuttan.Ìý
But Bosley also faces a November charge from St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë prosecutors of making a false report to police about a woman trying to carjack him. In December 2022, Bosley was involved in a bizarre incident where he livestreamed a profanity-laden interaction with a woman lying on the street who he said tried to carjack him. He claimed the woman demanded his keys and threatened to pull a gun on him. He threatened to shoot her if she did.
After Bosley’s claims, police arrested the woman on suspicion of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, and prosecutors charged her. But then police reinterviewed Bosley and prosecutors dropped the charges against the woman two weeks later.