Back in 2007 one of the first ever exclusives on Rhymes with Snitch was a tip we received about Nicole Murphy's then boyfriend Troy Stratos burning through her $15 million divorce settlement from Eddie Murphy [click here if you missed that].
It was also the first time we received a cease and desist letter demanding we take down a post, but turns out the story was true...
This week Nicole Murphy admitted that Troy, who she has known since high school, conned her out of over half her divorce settlement by claiming to know Middle Eastern business men that could invest her money in oil shares.
Troy also told Nicole the oil guys wanted to purchase the house she got in her settlement at a huge profit and that she needed to lease two luxury cars that would be purchased as part of a package deal.
In reality Troy was living in the house rent free, driving the cars around town and had taken Nicole's money and invested it in his own bank account which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle and gambling addiction.
From The Daily Mail
Murphy's attempts to try to get her money back have so far failed.
She hired private investigator Bill Branscum, a former special agent who worked with the FBI's organized crime strike force in Miami, to dig into Stratos' background.
Branscum followed fraudster Stratos' trail from Florida to California to Canada and France.
According to documents seen by Daily Mail Online Branscum found a realtor in Maui, Hawaii who said he gave Stratos $1.9 million for an investment that never happened.
He also found more wealthy women targeted by Stratos in Vancouver, Canada who gave the conman at least $16 million and a string of men who said they were his lovers and victims of his scams.Troy has been charged with three counts of mail fraud, 12 counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering, and one count of obstruction of justice in Nicole's criminal case against him and his trial is scheduled to begin September 12.
