He gave $1M to shag-dancing friend at a Cracker Barrel — but it was a scam, feds say
Two friends who ran in the same shag-dancing circle in South Carolina met at Cracker Barrel for a high-dollar investment deal in August, according to recently unsealed court documents.
Now one is accused of fleecing the other out of more than $1 million.
Clyde Anthony Murchison III was arrested and charged with wire fraud in an alleged scheme to buy silver dollars from the Federal Reserve, according to charging documents unsealed Feb. 3 in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina. Prosecutors said Murchison and his victim had been acquaintances for several years, as the pair were members of the same shag-dancing club that met at the Brass Monkey bar and grill in Greenville, South Carolina.
Shag dancing is known as the “swing dance of the South” and is the state dance of South Carolina.
Murchison remains in federal custody and could not be reached for comment. A public defender representing him did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Feb. 7.
According to an affidavit filed alongside the criminal complaint, Murchison held himself out as a retired navy pilot who also worked for the CIA, and his victim was a retired military and commercial airline pilot.
“(The victim) stated that because he believed Murchison was former military and seemed to be a good person that he believed the things that Murchison told him, or at least had no reason to doubt them,” investigators said.
One night at the shag club, the victim reportedly told Murchison about $26,000 in cash he had after selling a piece of property. In response, Murchison said his friend could make more money if he purchased silver dollars from the Federal Reserve, melted the silver down and resold it for a higher price, according to the affidavit.
The victim eventually agreed, handing Murchison $75,000 in cash at a later date, investigators said. Murchison was supposed to match his investment for a total of $150,000 worth of Morgan Silver Dollars.
The Morgan Silver Dollar was released in August with shipments slated to begin in October and sold for $85 a piece, according to the U.S. Mint.
Murchison forwarded his victim an email in August that contained a letter from the San Francisco Federal Reserve confirming the order, investigators said. It also referenced a second order for $3 million that was due in October. The victim reportedly emptied his credit union account in Florida of $1 million to help pay for the second order, and he believed Murchison was going to cash in his Amazon stock to cover the remaining cost.
Murchison subsequently met the victim at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Powdersville, South Carolina, on Aug. 31, where he received a personal check for $1 million, according to the affidavit.
The victim reportedly believed their order of silver dollars would arrive at a local Wells Fargo branch in Greenville. But when he called the bank to ask about seeing the coins, investigators said the branch manager told him they didn’t have any boxes of Morgan Silver Dollars on hold for him, nor was there a vault at the bank to store them in.
Fearing it was a scam, the victim asked Murchison to back out of the deal. The government said Murchison agreed and offered to give him ownership of $1.2 million held in Murchison’s name at a bank in Israel.
But his victim was skeptical, and he called the Greenville Police Department to report Murchison. A detective who began looking into the case subsequently called the Federal Reserve to confirm whether the confirmation emails Murchison sent to his victim were real.
According to the affidavit, the name on the paperwork belonged to an actual employee of the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. But the employee knew nothing about the letters, and he reportedly told investigators the Federal Reserve does not sell Morgan Silver Dollars nor do they administer accounts to individuals.
The Greenville Police Department then contacted federal investigators in November.
Investigators said Murchison — who was seemingly not aware of the investigation and still communicating with his victim — sent a packet just before Christmas that showed ownership of the money in Israel had been successfully transferred to the victim to repay his investment. A Secret Service agent opened the envelope on the victim’s behalf, noting it contained “several documents that, on first appearance, seemed to be official and legitimate.”
But when investigators called the bank in Israel to confirm, they said there were no records showing Murchison “was or ever had been a customer.”
“(The bank representative) also stated that the documents in question were not authentic and appeared to him to be a ‘mish-mash’ of different documents obtained from different places at different times and then put together to appear legitimate,” the affidavit states.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint charging Murchison with wire fraud on Jan. 28, and he was arrested Feb. 2, court documents show. The case was unsealed the following day.
Murchison has pending arrest warrants in Las Vegas and faced extradition to Nevada if he was released from custody, the judge noted during a detention hearing on Monday, Feb. 7.
Murchison waived his right to a bond hearing as a result and will remain in jail.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 2:52 PM with the headline "He gave $1M to shag-dancing friend at a Cracker Barrel — but it was a scam, feds say."
