Financial planner charged with espionage, money laundering

U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment formally charging 11 alleged members of a long-term, deep-cover Russian spy ring – one that officials said includes a former financial planner who worked for an advisory and tax firm in New York. Prosecutors today released the indictment charging all 11 with one count of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without prior notification. One member of the group is a woman known as Cynthia Murphy, 35, who lived in Montclair, N.J., and worked at Morea Financial Services in downtown Manhattan. Ms. Murphy, a certified financial planner, was also a member of the New York chapter of the Financial Planning Association. (Who is Cynthia Murphy? Take a look at the life of the financial planner and accused spy.) Nine of the accused spies, including Ms. Murphy, also were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Law enforcement officials have claimed that she used her office to meet clients she could pump for information, as InvestmentNews reported last week. In the indictment that was returned today, few specifics were disclosed about Ms. Murphy's alleged involvement in the spy ring. However, the documents stated that she advised her husband, Richard Murphy (who was also allegedly involved in the ring), “as to how he could effectively gather information in the United States” which the ring could provide to Russian officials. The charges in the indictment today are similar to those contained in two criminal complaints filed against the defendants last month. Also today, five defendants in custody in Massachusetts and northern Virginia were ordered transferred to New York. Five others are in custody in New York amid reports the U.S. and Russia are in talks over a prisoner swap. An 11th member of the alleged ring, Christopher Metsos, was arrested in Cyprus and then fled when he was released from custody. Ms. Murphy and her husband, who have two children, were ordered by a U.S. judge last week to remain in custody because they pose a risk of flight. The U.S. argues that it doesn't know the true identities of the couple. The Associated Press and the Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported today that the U.S. and Russia are working on exchanging five of the accused spies for an imprisoned nuclear researcher who was arrested in Russia in 1999. The AP cited the brother of the researcher as its source. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were not among the five spies reportedly involved in the swap.