Democratic Party Campaign Treasurer Confesses to Being an Embezzler

The top political leader of New Jersey’s city of Newark in Essex County Mayor, Ras J. Baraka, is trying to distance himself from his former campaign treasurer after the suspected offender pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the embezzlement of at least $220,000 from the campaign’s treasury.

Frederick Murphy Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, to three federal counts charging him with wire fraud, bank fraud, and tax evasion. Murphy’s guilty plea and allocution were delivered before Chief Judge Jose L. Linares.

Murphy served as the Democratic candidate’s treasurer for election campaign accounts associated with Baraka’s mayoral campaign between January 2014 and March 2017.

Murphy admitted that for over 3-years he embezzled more than $220,000 from those accounts. He confessed to writing and distributing phony checks in the names of various consultants and vendors for services which were never received.

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 close to $103,000 in embezzled campaign funds on his personal income tax return for 2016.

Murphy is now the third person affiliated with Mayor Baraka’s prior campaigns to plead guilty in federal court to embezzlement.

Kiburi Tucker and Linda Jumah, political consultants with Elite Strategies LLC, were both found guilty of financial crimes by the Special Prosecutions Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.