NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man today admitted embezzling over $220,000 in campaign funds while serving as the treasurer for a Newark mayoral campaign, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Frederick Murphy Jr., 56, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court to Counts One, Two, and Five of an information charging him with wire fraud, bank fraud, and tax evasion.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Between January 2014 and March 2017, Murphy served as the treasurer for election campaign accounts associated with a Newark mayoral candidate.
Murphy admitted that during that time, he embezzled over $220,000 from those accounts by writing phony checks in the names of various consultants and vendors for services that were never performed.
Murphy cashed the checks by presenting them to a bank in Essex County with the forged signature of the check payees as well as Murphy’s own signature as a double endorsement.
Murphy then reported the fraudulent checks as legitimate campaign expenditures in quarterly filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The false reports were uploaded by the Election Law Enforcement Commission onto its website for public reference.
Murphy also admitted under-reporting $102,954 in embezzled campaign funds on his personal income tax return for 2016.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Murphy also faces a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the tax evasion charge. Sentencing is currently scheduled for Sept. 11, 2018.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark, and IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Bryant Jackson in Newark, with the investigation.