We define a sequence of (discrete) stopping times
$$\tau_j := \frac{\lfloor 2^j \tau \rfloor+1}{2^j}, \qquad j \in \mathbb{N}.$$
It is not difficult to see that $\tau_j$ is indeed a stopping time and $\tau_j \downarrow \tau$ as $j \to \infty$. Since the Brownian motion has continuous paths, this implies $B(\tau) = \lim_{j \to \infty} B(\tau_j)$.
Let $\xi,\eta \in \mathbb{R}$. Then, by the dominated convergence theorem,
$$\begin{align*} \mathbb{E}\bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi \cdot (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \cdot e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau)} \bigg) &= \lim_{j \to \infty} \mathbb{E}\bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi \cdot (B(\tau_j+t)-B(\tau_j))} \cdot e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau_j)} \bigg) \\ &= \lim_{j \to \infty} \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \mathbb{E} \bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi (B(k \cdot 2^{-j} +t)-B(k \cdot 2^{-j}))} \cdot e^{\imath \, \eta B(k \cdot 2^{-j})} \cdot 1_{\{\tau_j = k \cdot 2^{-j}\}} \bigg) \end{align*}$$
where we used in the last step that $\tau_j$ is a discrete stopping time. By assumption, $B(k \cdot 2^{-j}+t)-B(k \cdot 2^{-j})$ and $B(k \cdot 2^{-j}) \cdot 1_{\{\tau_j=k2^{-j}\}}$ are independent. Therefore, we obtain
$$\begin{align*} \mathbb{E}\bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi \cdot (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \cdot e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau)} \bigg) &= \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \xi B(t)} \bigg) \lim_{j \to \infty} \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \mathbb{E} \bigg( e^{\imath \, \eta B(k 2^{-j})} \cdot 1_{\{\tau_j=k \cdot 2^{-j}\}} \bigg) \\ &= \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \xi B(t)} \bigg) \cdot \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau)} \bigg). \end{align*}$$
(In the second step we used again dominated convergence, similar to the above calculation.) If we choose $\eta = 0$, then we get
$$ \mathbb{E}\bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi \cdot (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \bigg) = \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \xi B(t)} \bigg);$$
hence,
$$ \mathbb{E}\bigg( e^{\imath \, \xi \cdot (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \cdot e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau)} \bigg)= \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \xi (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \bigg) \cdot \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \eta B(\tau)} \bigg)$$
i.e. $B(\tau+t)-B(\tau)$ and $B(\tau)$ are independent. Therefore, the strong Markov property gives
$$\begin{align*} \mathbb{E}\bigg(1_F e^{\imath \, \xi (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \bigg) &= \mathbb{E}\bigg(1_F \mathbb{E} \bigg[ e^{\imath \, \xi (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \mid \mathcal{F}_{\tau} \bigg] \bigg) \\ &= \mathbb{E}\bigg(1_F \mathbb{E} \bigg[ e^{\imath \, \xi (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \mid B_{\tau} \bigg] \bigg)\\ &= \mathbb{P}(F) \cdot \mathbb{E}\bigg(e^{\imath \, \xi (B(\tau+t)-B(\tau))} \bigg) \end{align*}$$
for any $F \in \mathcal{F}_{\tau}$. Consequently, $B(\tau+t)-B(\tau)$ is independent of $\mathcal{F}_{\tau}$.
A very similar calculation shows that
$$\mathbb{E} \left( \exp \left( \imath \sum_{j=1}^n \xi_j \cdot (B(\tau+t_j)-B(\tau+t_{j-1})) \right) \right) = \prod_{j=1}^n \mathbb{E}e^{\imath \, \xi_j B(t_j-t_{j-1})}$$
for any $\xi_j \in \mathbb{R}$, $0 \leq t_0 < \ldots \leq t_n$. This means that $(B(\tau+t_j)-B(\tau+t_{j-1}))_{j=1,\ldots,n}$ are independent normal distributed random variables.
Best Answer
A rv $X$ is independent from a $\sigma$-algebra $\mathscr{G}$ (i.e. $\sigma(X)$ is independent of $\mathscr{G}$) iff $E[\mathbf{1}_Gf(X)]=P(G)E[f(X)],\,\forall G\in \mathscr{G},\,\forall f$ nonnegative continuous and bounded.
Indeed: $(\Rightarrow)$ since $\mathbf{1}_G,f(X)$ are nonnegative and respectively are $\mathscr{G}$- and $\sigma(X)$-measurable, the statement follows from the result $E[Zf(X)]=E[Z]E[f(X)]$ for all $Z$ nonnegative s.t. $\sigma(Z)\subseteq \mathscr{G}$ and $f:\mathbb{R}\to [0,\infty)$ Borel (recall continuous implies Borel measurable). $(\Leftarrow)$: let $y$ be arbitrary, and choose a sequence $f_n$ continuous nonnegative bounded by $1$ s.t. pointwise $f_n\downarrow \mathbf{1}_{(-\infty,y]}$. We get by DCT $$E[\mathbf{1}_G\mathbf{1}_{(-\infty,y]}(X)]=\lim_{n \to \infty}E[\mathbf{1}_Gf_n(X)]=\lim_{n \to \infty}E[\mathbf{1}_G]E[f_n(X)]=P(G)E[\mathbf{1}_{(-\infty,y]}(X)]$$ This means $P(G\cap\{X\leq y\})=P(G)P(X\leq y)$ for all $y \in \mathbb{R}$. Since the family $\{(-\infty,y],y \in \mathbb{R}\}$ is $\cap$-stable and generates the Borel sets, it follows that $\sigma(X)$ and $\mathscr{G}$ are independent.