The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Ex-attorney admits to taking $1.3M
NEWTOWN — A former Newtown man pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge last week for stealing more than $1 million from clients, family and friends and using money meant for the purchase of local properties to buy a home in Michigan.
Court documents show an investor thought former attorney Thomas Murtha was using more than $600,000 to purchase investment properties in Newtown and Bethel. But as his schemes were unraveling, Murtha used the money to purchase a house in Michigan and move out of state.
Murtha was the operating partner of the now defunct Maher & Murtha Law Firm of Bridgeport.
He pleaded guilty last week to one count of wire fraud for stealing more than $1.3 million, in part by failing to provide clients with the proceeds of property sales, court documents state.
The government seized the home in Michigan as well as a 2.1-carat diamond ring as part of a guilty plea that Murtha entered into this week in Hartford federal court. The deal calls for Murtha to be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Court officials claim Murtha stole money from more than 20 people including $516,000 that was to benefit someone with mental health issues.
One of Murtha’s clients claims in a lawsuit that he gave the attorney more than $130,000 to pay a mortgage company as part of a foreclosure-prevention agreement, but Murtha never gave the money to the company. Murtha, according to the suit, never even made an agreement with the company despite telling his client he had done so.
The client found out about the problem when marshals arrived at his home in August 2015 with evection papers. The client lost the home and any equity he had in the property, according to the lawsuit, which is one of several pending malpractice suits filed against the former attorney.
Things began to fall apart for Murtha in late 2015 when several clients sent grievances to the state’s disciplinary council, which began suspension proceedings against Murtha in August 2016.
Murtha gave up his law license about a month later.
“The disciplinary council believes (Murtha) poses a substantial threat of irreparable harm to his clients,” the council stated in an application filed with the court seeking his suspension from the bar.
Murtha took money from clients after property sales but never forwarded the money to his clients, according to court documents. One of those clients was Jevene Wright, a Bridgeport man who agreed to pay his former employer $150,000 after pleading guilty to embezzlement.
Wright, the star witness in a Bridgeport murder case, sold his home to pay the money to his employer, but Murtha, his attorney, never gave him the money from the sale, according to court documents.
Another former client injured in a car accident claims in a lawsuit filed against Murtha and his former law firm that the attorney failed to file documents in a timely manner, resulting in her inability to seek a $1 million settlement in the case.
Murtha was released from custody on $10,000 bond until his sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 11.