SFO to secure a further £96,000 from “green energy” fraudster

Investigators uncover additional funds relating to £8.2m investment fraud.

Today, the SFO secured a £96,000 confiscation order against Steven John Murphy, 50, after uncovering additional assets related to his role in a boiler-room fraud. The funds will go straight back to the public purse. 

Murphy was one of seven men who defrauded thousands of UK investors out of £8.2 million through an east-London registered but Spain-based sham biofuel company called Worldwide Bio Refineries (WBR).

SFO investigators recently uncovered that Murphy held equity in a UK property that had been purchased using the proceeds of crime, and acted quickly to recover £96k.

Murphy was convicted in 2011 after an SFO investigation revealed that WBR deceived investors using high-pressure telesales techniques.  

While investors were led to believe their money was funding a legitimate green energy venture, more than half of the funds were siphoned off into the defendants’ personal accounts in Cyprus, Jersey and Spain, with further millions squandered on overseas trips. 

Murphy was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and has already paid back over £117,000 via a previous SFO confiscation order. 

The SFO’s successful prosecution led to a combined prison sentence of just over 39 years. 

In total, SFO proceeds of crime investigators will have secured over £436,000 from the defendants to date.

Paul Napper, Head of Proceeds of Crime and International Assistance Division at the SFO, said: