Investigators have found at least $2 million more in stolen funds that embattled South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh allegedly pocketed from his clients, including a deaf student athlete who was left paralyzed after a 2009 car wreck.
Murdaugh, whose world has crumbled around him since his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, were found murdered in June, has been hit with four more charges for criminal conspiracy for allegedly “conspiring to surreptitiously misappropriate” the client money, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday.
Cory Fleming, Murdaugh’s longtime friend and alleged co-conspirator on the theft of the life insurance payout for his housekeeper, was also indicted, as was Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank who was ousted in January amid allegations of improper handling of Murdaugh’s legal settlements.
Laffitte, 51, faces 21 charges, his first connected with the Murdaugh crime spree, for allegedly helping Murdaugh steal millions from clients, serving as a personal representative in cases far below his pay grade and then siphoning portions of their insurance payouts to Murdaugh.
[ The Murdaugh family mysteries: a timeline of murders, cryptic deaths, scandals and power ]
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Among them was Hakeem Pinckney, who was rendered quadriplegic in a 2009 car crash and died two years later in a care facility after his ventilator was left unplugged, and two of his relatives who were also hurt in the wreck. Murdaugh secured the family an insurance settlement and allegedly kept more than $800,000 of it for himself.
Laffitte, whose family has owned and operated Palmetto State Bank for the past 70 years, also allegedly helped Murdaugh “misappropriate” more than $350,000 meant for client Natarsha Thomas, Pinckney’s cousin.
Out of money intended for Pinckney’s mother, Pamela, Fleming allegedly helped himself to $8,000 to take himself, Murdaugh, and another attorney on a private plane to the 2012 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., according to the indictment.
“Screw them guys,” Justin Bamberg, an attorney for the Pinckney family, told the Post and Courier. “Today is a great day for justice in the state of South Carolina. … All chickens come home to roost.”
Attorneys for both Laffitte and Fleming have insisted that their clients were fooled by Murdaugh just like his clients were, rather than co-conspirators.
Murdaugh, 53, remains behind bars as the allegations against him add up, including a failed assisted suicide meant to direct his life insurance policy to his remaining son, Buster. In total, through 15 indictments and 79 charges, the State Grand Jury has indicted Murdaugh for schemes to defraud victims of $8,492,888.31, according to the attorney general’s office.
The murders of his wife and son remain unsolved, and while Murdaugh’s own lawyer has admitted that he is a suspect, he has not yet been charged.
