NJ court freezes millionaire child sex offender’s assets – My Central Jersey

BEDMINSTER – A Superior Court judge has frozen the assets of township millionaire Stephen Bradley Mell who is facing a lawsuit from the young woman he was convicted of sexually abusing.

Judge Robert Gardner in Essex County this week ordered that the assets be placed into an escrow account until the litigation is settled.

Mell is serving seven years in the federal penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct and receiving child pornography.

The now 18-year-old filed the lawsuit against Mell on Oct. 2 in state Superior Court in Essex County. The 27-page lawsuit is a detailed narrative of how the relationship between a middle-aged millionaire and a teen girl began, continued in New Jersey and other states, and then came to an end.

Bruce H. Nagel, of the Roseland firm of Nagel Rice, who is representing the victim of the sexual abuse, said in statement” not only did Mell commit these vile acts, he bragged to his victim that he was giving all of his money to his wife and kids so he would not have to pay her a dime. I guess Mell was wrong about that.”

In court papers filed before the judge’s decision, the victim certified that Mell had placed $500,000 in an escrow account for damages in the lawsuit. However, Mell later told her that he had already given away $483,000.

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Mell also told her, according to the certification, that every dollar he collects from his business is allocated to his children’s trust. He also told the victim that his children were “crazy wealthy.”

In a brief opposing the motion to freeze the assets, Mell’s lawyer, Richard Lomurro, said the move would be “devastating” for Mell’s ex-wife and children. The brief said that because the ex-wife “has limited capacity to earn an income,” the family “completely relies” on income from the assets to cover “ordinary day-to-day expenses.”

Mell used to live on a 50-acre estate in an exclusive corner of Bedminster that had a six-bedroom house, a swimming pool and a helipad. A licensed pilot, the millionaire owned airplanes and helicopters, in addition to luxury cars, including an Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. He also had a 25-foot boat named “Get Nauti.”

Mell’s home on Black River Road was sold in April for $4 million. He bought the house in 2006 for $1.5 million.

Known by many as Brad, Mell was an active community member, serving on the board of the Far Hills Day School and volunteering in numerous charities, including the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. He belonged to the exclusive Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, the Essex Hunt Club in Peapack-Gladstone and the Mill Reef Club in Antigua.

The sexual encounters with the teenage girl took place from June 2017 to Nov. 17, 2017. The encounters were at his houses in Bedminster and Nantucket; his office in Summit; airports in Morristown and Allentown, Pennsylvania; three hotels in New Jersey and one hotel in New York City.

When they met the first time at the Trump Soho Hotel in New York City, Mell instructed the girl to stand away from him while in the lobby, and always, when they were in public together.

One time, when he was flying with her from New Jersey to Cape Cod, they had sex in the cabin of his plane while it was on autopilot.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

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