Former attorney for the Guam Housing and Urban Renwal Authority Mark Smith is cleared of all criminal charges that he had been convicted of in the District Court or Guam.

Federal Judge Ramona Manglona issued her decision on Friday acquitting Smith on multiple counts of money laundering and theft of property and monetary instruments.

Smith was cleared earlier this year on 26 counts of wire fraud and a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Defense Attorney Mike Phillips called the decision a ‘huge win.’

“The initial verdict came as a complete shock. There just wasn’t any evidence of a crime. We were very confident of our motion to dismiss this case but of course we never know for sure what a court will do. We are extremely grateful the court listened. Mr. Smith was extremely fortunate to be able to retain the attorneys he did,” said Phillips. “Attorney Ben Coleman joined the team for all post trial issues and successfully argued the motion that resulted in this dismissal. I am glad the court agreed there just wasn’t evidence sufficient for any jury to convict Mark. There was no crime.”

Phillips had argued that Smith was erroneously prosecuted.

In March 2017, Smith along with Glenn Wong were indicted by a federal grand jury accused of collecting funds as a landlord for the Section 8 Program, while serving as GHURA’s legal counsel. Prosecutors argued that Smith concealed his conflict of interest by transferring his properties to Wong before Wong would distribute the money in various methods to pay Smith’s credit cards, loans, and other obligations.