SACRAMENTO, CA — A self-described Los Angeles entertainment entrepreneur is charged in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday with bilking $7 million from Nicole Murphy, ex-wife of actor-comedian Eddie Murphy.

Troy David Stratos faces 14 charges of fraud, money laundering and obstructing justice. Stratos, 45, was arrested Tuesday and made his first appearance in Los Angeles federal court.

Court records show Nicole Murphy sued Stratos and others last year in Los Angeles federal court and refiled the lawsuit in May in Florida state court. She filed for divorce from Eddie Murphy in August 2005. The indictment charges that Stratos persuaded his victim to invest the proceeds of her divorce overseas, where they would earn a high rate of return. She put the proceeds into a revocable trust with Stratos in Fair Oaks, a Sacramento suburb, according to the federal indictment. Prosecutors say Stratos never invested the money, but spent it on himself. He also opened a bank account in Florida, they say, and used portions of the money to pay the victim’s expenses while leading her to believe he was paying her expenses out of his own pocket.

Nicole Murphy’s federal lawsuit alleges she put $11 million into a trust with Stratos.