Paul Murphy is a trial attorney with more than three decades of experience handling high-stakes litigation.  He represents clients in matters ranging from government investigations and criminal prosecutions to internal investigations and complex commercial disputes.  His clients have included publicly traded companies, directors and officers, fund managers, entrepreneurs, chief compliance officers, and medical and other professionals.  He is known for forceful advocacy and practical judgment focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for clients.  Mr. Murphy’s achievements have resulted in his being recognized in the 2025 and 2026 editions of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America.

White Collar Criminal Matters

In defending clients caught up in government investigations and prosecutions, Mr. Murphy draws on his experience of almost 18 years with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of white collar criminal matters.  As a federal prosecutor, he gained invaluable experience handling complex securities and commodities fraud cases, as well as healthcare fraud, tax fraud, and public corruption matters.  He personally prosecuted and supervised cross-border investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international fraud schemes, and alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and other national security and export control matters.  As a result, he has a deep understanding of how prosecutors build cases and how to best advocate for his clients’ interests.

Mr. Murphy is regularly retained to represent clients in connection with grand jury investigations being conducted by U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide, including the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the District of New Jersey and the District of Connecticut, among others.  He also represents clients before federal regulators, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and state law enforcement authorities.  At all times, he maintains a keen appreciation for the fact that the best result for a client is when no charges are brought in the first place.  He has been successful guiding clients through this difficult and stressful process.  In those cases where prosecutors decide to pursue charges, Mr. Murphy stands ready to fight for the client at trial.

Mr. Murphy’s representative white collar criminal matters include the following:

Securities Fraud: Trial co-counsel for a former hedge fund executive charged in federal court with a securities fraud scheme.  A jury acquitted the client on the central charge, and the court imposed a non-custodial sentence.

Health Care Fraud: Co-counsel for an entrepreneur charged in federal court with health care fraud and related offenses.  After developing the facts, the defense team secured a resolution to a narrow count of transacting in criminal proceeds, and the court imposed a sentence that included no prison time.

Corporate Visa Fraud: Represented a CEO initially charged in federal court with a felony relating to an alleged scheme to obtain visas for employees.  After an extensive factual investigation, Mr. Murphy negotiated a resolution to a low-level misdemeanor, and the court sentenced the client to probation.

Securities/Commodities Fraud: Represented a former Chief Compliance Officer of a major financial institution in a Department of Justice criminal investigation and a parallel regulatory inquiry.  The Department and regulators took no action against the client.

Government Contracting Fraud: Represented a company and its CEO in connection with allegations of fraudulent billing under a government contract.  The government took no action against the CEO; the corporation resolved the matter and paid a fine.

Government Research Grant Fraud: Represented medical professionals facing allegations of fraud relating to applications for federal research grants.  The government took no action against the clients.

Civil Rights Investigation:  Represented an employee of a religious organization in connection with a Department of Justice investigation into allegations of civil rights violations and visa fraud.  The Department took no action against the client.

Union Benefit Plan Kickbacks/Fraud: Represented a business owner and union trustee in a Department of Justice investigation into alleged kickbacks to the administrator of union benefit plans.  The Department took no action against the client.

Civil Litigation and Internal Investigations

Mr. Murphy also represents clients in complex civil litigation.  He has served as trial counsel in federal court, prevailing in a commercial dispute with a publicly traded company.  He also has represented a publicly traded medical device manufacturer and a major insurance carrier in qui tam actions under the False Claims Act alleging fraud against government health care programs.  Mr. Murphy also has defended a foreign telecommunications carrier in an international unfair-competition matter, represented a private company accused of civil RICO violations, and defended a company and its officers and directors in a fraudulent-transfer action arising out of a leveraged buyout.  He also represented several religious organizations in connection with claims of workplace misconduct.

Mr. Murphy also represents individuals caught up in internal investigations and conducts such investigations on behalf of corporate clients.  He has successfully guided directors, officers, and corporate executives through internal investigations examining allegations of potential criminal wrongdoing and workplace misconduct as well as a Title IX investigation by a research university.  Mr. Murphy also has been called upon to conduct an internal investigation of a company whose employees were alleged to have engaged in widespread fraud.

Government and Prior Experience

From 2014 to 2019, Mr. Murphy served in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, including three years as Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit.  Before that, he served for nine years in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut and advanced to the position of Deputy Chief of the Financial and Public Corruption Unit.  During his tenure at the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York appointed him as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in connection with an insider trading investigation.

While in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Mr. Murphy investigated and prosecuted matters involving securities and commodities fraud, tax evasion, wire fraud, market manipulation, investment adviser fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, international bank fraud, public corruption, and money laundering.  He conducted and supervised major white-collar prosecutions involving publicly traded companies, hedge funds, and financial institutions.  He prosecuted the founders and C-suite executives of a public company relating to an accounting-fraud scheme, and he handled a case involving a massive fraud at a hedge fund that included the payment of kickbacks to foreign government officials.

Mr. Murphy joined the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks and worked on international terrorism investigations and prosecutions nationwide.  In that role, he was temporarily assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he assisted with national security prosecutions and was recognized for his work on a major international terrorism case.