Bank fraud case from Channel 2 investigation was an inside job, warrant shows

ATLANTA — A bank fraud case that was the focus of a Channel 2 Action News investigation, was an inside job according to criminal warrants filed in Fulton County Magistrate Court.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Alpharetta police arrested Robert Sterling Murphy and charged him with identity theft fraud and computer theft.

Murphy was a registered broker and investment adviser working at Chase Bank at the time of the alleged fraud back in 2021.

In a May 2023 investigation, Channel 2 Action News talked to Justin and Suzanne Lee. For more than a year, they say they repeatedly had their fraud claims denied by Chase Bank over a wire transfer. They even lost an arbitration hearing.

“After arbitration and he lost, I think my husband was done. He was ready to wash his hands, but I couldn’t let it go because it was so unfair,” Suzanne Lee told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray in 2023.

The Lees told Gray that someone walked into a Chase Bank branch with a fake ID and a social security number that didn’t match theirs and sent a wire transfer draining their account of $30,000.

MORE STORIES FROM 2 INVESTIGATES:

• Georgia SNAP recipients say hackers wiped out their EBT cards
• Hurricane Helene: Flooded, damaged cars could end up being sold states away
• DeKalb County woman says she is on the hook for thousands after car repairs she never agreed to

Criminal warrants say it was Robert Murphy who initiated that wire transfer. The warrants charge that the money was sent to a bank account owned and controlled by a family member of Murphy’s friend and business partner.

The warrants also say Murphy accessed the Lee’s bank account 26 times, even though they never communicated with him about the account.

According to Murphy’s federal broker check page at FINRA, federal regulators say he left Chase in 2022 but continued to work as a broker and investment advisor at INVESCO until March of this year.

The FINRA report says Invesco terminated Murphy after launching an investigation because of a tip from Suzanne Lee.

Chase finally refunded the Lee’s money after our original May 2023 investigation aired.

The Lees signed a confidentiality agreement with Chase.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

©2024 Cox Media Group