A retired and decorated Navy chief petty officer has been indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on allegations of convincing fellow sailors to give him hundreds of thousands of dollars that he then gambled away, spent on personal items, or lost on risky stock investments.
According to a statement and court filings made by federal officials, Robert Murray Jr. “used the veneer of trustworthiness created by his U.S. Navy service to raise nearly $355,000 from approximately 44 investors,” of which he would misappropriate nearly half — $148,000.
Navy records show that Murray, a corpsman, had an extensive career serving both on ships and with Marines that spanned 20 years. According to data provided by the Navy, Murray not only deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, he also earned the Combat Action Ribbon — an award that is earned by troops who fight an enemy combatant.
It’s not clear what Murray did once he retired from the Navy in April 2018 but, in September 2020, he began to reach out to sailors and veterans about his investment fund: “Deep Dive Strategies, LLC (DDS),” prosecutors say.
Murray “touted his purported options trading acumen” in the “Goats Facebook Group” — a collection of more than 3,500 active-duty sailors, reservists and veterans of the Navy “who shared an interest in investing,”…
