Moorestown Financial Adviser Stole $900K From Client: Prosecutor

MOORESTOWN, NJ — A Moorestown-based financial adviser has been charged with stealing nearly $900,000 from a client who gave him money believing it would be invested in mutual funds, Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi said on Friday.

Police allege 46-year-old Brian Murphy, of Hainesport, instead used that money to pay for personal and business expenses.

They say he used the money to cover, among other things, expenses at a local country club, a private school, established retail organizations, lending institutions, an automobile dealer and an attorney.

Murphy was doing business under the name of Murphy Financial Advisors out of Moorestown when he began receiving money from the victim in March of 2011 to be invested in mutual funds overseen by a specific investment firm, police said.

Over the next four years, the victim transferred a total of $890,000 to Murphy to be invested. However, the victim claims Murphy didn’t provide updates or statements about the status of the investment upon request.

When pressed for information, police allege Murphy provided fictitious financial statements and a link to a bogus web page that he created in an attempt to satisfy the client’s demand for information.

When the victim followed up with the investing firm, the victim was told no record existed of any money deposited on the victim’s behalf by Brian Murphy.

After he was confronted with this information by the victim, Murphy went to the victim’s home. There, he attempted to persuade the victim to sign a promissory note that indicated the money was actually a loan to Murphy.

Murphy is also alleged to have underreported his taxable income in 2012, 2014 and 2015 and failed to file a New Jersey tax return in 2013.

Murphy was arrested on Friday and charged with second-degree theft by deception, second-degree misapplication of entrusted property, second-degree computer criminal activity, third-degree failure to file New Jersey tax returns, third-degree filing of fraudulent New Jersey tax returns and third-degree failure to pay New Jersey taxes.

This case was investigated by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit and the New Jersey Department of Treasury Office of Criminal Investigations.

Anyone who may have been victimized by this defendant is asked to call the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-265-5035 and ask to speak to a detective in the Financial Crimes Unit.

The attached image of Brian Murphy was provided by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office