Francis "Frank" Murray
Frank Murray represents SKN’s clients in a broad range of matters, including government investigations, white-collar criminal defense, complex commercial litigation, and business disputes.
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Frank Murray represents SKN’s clients in a broad range of matters, including government investigations, white-collar criminal defense, complex commercial litigation, and business disputes.
Prior to joining SKN, Frank was a partner at a civil litigation boutique in Miami, Florida. His civil practice areas include complex commercial litigation, partnership and shareholder disputes, real estate litigation, wrongful death claims, and actions brought under the Torture Victim Protection Act and Alien Tort Statute. Frank has experience helping clients balance their commercial and legal goals.
Before entering private practice, Frank served for nearly seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Florida. As part of that Office’s Criminal Division (Economic Crimes Section and Special Victims Section), he led investigations, prosecutions, and trials of numerous violations of the United States Code, including money laundering and illegal monetary transactions; wire, mail, access-device, bank, and health care fraud; RICO; environmental crimes; aggravated identity theft; human trafficking; civil rights offenses; terrorism hoaxes; and child exploitation offenses. Before joining the Criminal Division, Frank served for one year in the Office’s Appellate Division, where he authored appellate briefs in direct appeals, conducted oral argument in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and coordinated the Office’s district-wide response to post-conviction litigation.
Before his tenure as a federal prosecutor, Frank served for two years as a federal judicial law clerk. During that period, Frank worked on the federal “Engle Tobacco” docket presided over by the Hon. William G. Young, District of Massachusetts (sitting by designation in the Middle District of Florida). Part of that service included serving as a law clerk for visiting judges from throughout the federal judiciary. Frank also subsequently participated in the “Engle Tobacco” federal mediation effort, resulting in a $100 million settlement in February 2015. Following that settlement, Frank assisted the appointed Rule 53 Special Master, the Hon. Anthony E. Porcelli, to create a distribution plan for the settlement funds and helped administer their distribution to qualifying plaintiffs.
Frank is an active participant in the Florida legal community, where he serves on the Federal Bar Association, South Florida Chapter’s Membership Committee. While working at the Department of Justice, he volunteered for the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division’s Intensive Reentry Program, helping inmates at high risk of recidivism to reenter society. Additionally, he was part of “Guys with Ties,” a community outreach program where federal prosecutors visit and counsel students at underprivileged schools.
- White Collar Criminal Defense
- Government Investigations
- Complex Commercial Litigation
- Real Estate Litigation
- Contract Disputes and Other Business Torts
- Class Actions
- Wrongful Death Claims
Notable Criminal Matters
- Led the prosecution and dismantling of an international child exploitation and money laundering organization referred to as the “Newstar Enterprise.” For 15 years, the Newstar Enterprise had sexually exploited vulnerable children in Eastern Europe under the guise of “child modeling,” through a collection of subscription-based websites called the Newstar Websites. The Enterprise had a presence in more than 10 countries, produced 4.6 million images and videos, had customers in over 100 countries, and in its last 10 years of operation had generated roughly $10 million in revenue.
- Prosecuted and tried to guilty verdict a Chief Executive Officer charged with having run an $80 million FOREX trading, Ponzi-style scheme through the corporation Oasis International Group Ltd.
- Prosecuted a national wildlife dealer known as “the Monkey Whisperer” for having violated the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act through illicit primate sales to celebrity clientele.
- Prosecuted a multi-state RICO conspiracy involving the trafficking and forced labor of Mexican agricultural H-2A workers.
- Represented the United States in a series of prosecutions against individuals in the Tampa Bay area who were defrauding undocumented persons by posing as attorneys and charging them for legal services.
- Prosecuted a Pasco County, Florida, man for criminal civil rights violations who had threatened and harassed an Iraqi-American family in an attempt to force them to move out of his neighborhood.
- Assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office to revive the unsolved 2006 kidnapping and murder of minor Amber Woods, resulting in multiple second-degree murder convictions and life sentences.
- Prosecuted a Florida man who was sexually abusing his infant child and posting videos of the abuse in a dark-net forum.
- Secured a life sentence and 35-year sentence against two Florida school administrators, respectively, both of whom sexually abused children and conspired with each other to have sex with minors.
Notable Civil Matters
Represented a Miami corporation and its principal in a civil lawsuit stemming from the multi-million-dollar theft of investment funds by the principal of a reputable aviation escrow company, who had been federally indicted for using her escrow company to perpetuate a drug-trafficking conspiracy and Ponzi scheme.
Secured an $8.86 million judgment for a real estate private equity firm in a ground-lease and development-agreement dispute.
Represented a publicly traded, global hotel chain in a jurisdictional dispute in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.
Defended a former foreign military officer sued under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).
Represented a major sports league’s players’ association in a Collective-Bargaining Agreement (CBA) arbitral grievance.
Awards & Accolades
- The Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention (2021)
- FinCEN Director’s Law Enforcement Award (2022)
- Homeland Security Investigations Prosecutor of the Year (Tampa, 2020)
- United States Attorney’s Office (MDFL) Excellence in Victim Cases (2019)
- United States Attorney’s Office (MDFL) Superior Achievement (2017)
- Financial Crimes and Inspectors General Council, Case of the Year Award (2023)
- Boston College Law School Pro Bono Award
- The George Washington University Silent Leader Award
Professional & Community Involvement
- Federal Bar Association (South Florida Chapter)
- Membership Committee
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division’s Intensive Reentry Program, 2016–2022.
- The Herbert G. Goldburg-Ronald K. Cacciatore Criminal Law American Inn of Court, 2015–2022.
- Barrister
- Guys with Ties (Tampa), 2016–2022.
- Law Clerk, Honorable William G. Young, District of Massachusetts (2014)
- Law Clerk, Honorable Anthony E. Porcelli, Middle District of Florida (2015)
- M.P.A., Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, 2014
- Concentrations: Political Philosophy, Social Policy
- Merit Scholarship Recipient
- Graduate Level Lab Instructor
- Capstone Project: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism—Review of Legal Challenges to Terrorist Sanctions and Prosecutions
- J.D., with honors, Boston College Law School, 2013
- International & Comparative Law Review, Staff Writer
- Public Interest Fellow
- B.A., with honors, The George Washington University, Elliot School of International Affairs, 2010
- International Affairs, International Economics
- Elliot School Special Honors (Thesis)
- Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals: Eleventh Circuit
- Boston College’s Defense of the Belfast Project: A Renewed Call for a Researcher’s Privilege to Protect Academia, 39 J. C. & U. L. 659 | Notre Dame Law School (Spring 2013)
- Transnational Organized Crime: Draining Development? Controlling Flows of Illicit Funds from Developing Countries, 66 COLUM. J. INT’L AFF., No. 1, 237 Fall/Winter 2012 (Book Review)
- Inspectors General Council Law-Enforcement Training, St. Petersburg, Florida, February 2023
NEWS & INSIGHTS
Before entering private practice, Frank served for nearly seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Florida.
