Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to 40 Yrs in Prison For FED Financial Crimes

[Ladybbird]

Assassination Attempt and Murder Investigations: Irish American Lawyer’s Wife was Researching Divorce

A new report claims murdered Alex Murdaughs' wife had met with a Charleston lawyer to discuss divorce.

Irish Central 2 OCT 2021.








Police have not released a suspect or motive, however, they are investigating the unsolved murder of the South Carolina lawyer's wife and son, which took place just two months before his own self-made botched assassination attempt and insurance fraud.


Police are investigating the unsolved murder of Paul (22) and Maggie (52) Murdaugh, following the botched self-made assassination attempt carried out by husband and father, Alex (53), addicted to opioids. The South Caroline heir was trying to leave a life insurance fortune for their remaining son, Buster. Now People.com has reported that Maggie had met with a divorce lawyer six weeks before she and her son were shot and killed in June 2021.

Paul and Maggie were shot and killed outside the family's hunting lodge in Colleton County, South Carolina. Previously the mysterious shooting, in June 2021, was believed to be connected to a court case in which Paul was involved. Now it has been revealed that six weeks before the shooting Maggie had met with a diverse lawyer.

Alex Murdaugh, a previously prominent Irihs American South Carolina lawyer, has admitted that in September he had attempted to stage his own murder with the aim of getting his other son, Buster, a $10 million life insurance payout. He was shot by a hired assassin but survived. He later admitted to having been addicted to opioids for the past 20 years. He was also found to have misused funds at his law firm and his law license has been suspended.

Following September's revelations police are re-examining the murder of his wife and son, Maggie and Alex, as well at the mishandling of a settlement claim following the death of the Murdaugh's housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, in 2018 at the family's house.

After the death of Maggie and Paul in June it was Alex who called 911 having discovered the bodies. Now People have revealed that Maggie had begun to examine the family finances in order to establish the couple's marital assets. She had traveled to Charleston, SC, to meet with a lawyer.

Alex's coworkers at the firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, and Detrick (PMPED) said they'd noticed a change in the couple's relationship and noted Maggie no longer came to the office to have lunch with her husband.

People state that their source is a law enforcement source close to the murder investigation.

The police have not identified a motive or a suspect for Maggie and Paul's murders.

A spokesperson for Alex, Amanda Loveday, released the following statement in the wake of People.com's article:

"The most recent allegations by People Magazine regarding the state of Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s marriage are totally inconsistent with what we have been told by friends and family members. Also, we have reviewed many years of text messages on Alex’s phone, and the conversations between Alex and Maggie portray a very loving relationship. It is our hope that the media will continue to focus on covering the investigation of the person or people responsible for the murder of Maggie and Paul and not reporting salacious stories with no credible sources connected to the Murdaugh family."

Alex's former law firm, PMPED, said he had "lied and stole from us". The firm accused him of misappropriating millions in order to feed an addiction to painkillers.

The firm released a statement on its website distancing itself from Alex, who had resigned on September 3, a day before the allegedly botched hit.

"We were shocked and dismayed to learn that Alex violated our principles and code of ethics. He lied and he stole from us.

"No member of PMPED was aware of Alex's scheme," the statement read.

"When we learned he betrayed our trust, we requested his resignation immediately. We have yet to speak to anyone who was aware of his addiction to opioids."

After the botched assassination attempt, Alex was arrested and charged for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill him. He has been released from jail and is currently in an out-of-state drug rehab facility.

He was also charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false police report. These felonies could bring up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three charges. There is no minimum sentence. The killings of his wife and son, Maggie and Paul, remain unsolved.

[Ladybbird]

US Ex-Lawyer Alex Murdaugh Admits Lying But Denies Killing Family

In a murder trial that has gripped the US, the heir of a South Carolina legal dynasty has admitted to lying about his whereabouts on the night his wife and son were killed.

BBC 25 FEB 2023




The Murdaugh family
Alex Murdaugh is accused of murdering his wife, Maggie, and his youngest son Paul

But Alex Murdaugh, 54, denied ever hurting Maggie or Paul Murdaugh, who were fatally shot at the family's secluded hunting estate in June 2021.

The former lawyer took the stand on Thursday in week five of the trial.

Mr Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison without parole if convicted.


The trial in Walterboro has rocked the southern corner of South Carolina, where the defendant's family has dominated the legal landscape for more than a century.

Prosecutors have argued that Mr Murdaugh killed Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, in a desperate attempt to gain sympathy and conceal a decade of financial crimes.

Mr Murdaugh, who has admitted to stealing from clients and colleagues, is facing nearly 100 separate financial charges, with prosecutors alleging he stole about $8.8m (£7.3m).

The defence team has dismissed this theory at trial, saying Mr Murdaugh would never have "butchered" his family.

In court on Thursday, Mr Murdaugh wept as he recalled the night he found Maggie and Paul dead.

"I saw what y'all have seen pictures of," he told jurors, referring to graphic photos of the crime scene. "So bad."

And he addressed perhaps the most incriminating element of the prosecution's case: that he had lied about being with Maggie and Paul at the dog kennels on the family property shortly before they were killed.

A mobile phone video taken at the kennels by Paul about five minutes before prosecutors say the killings took place, which featured both Alex Murdaugh and Maggie's voices in the background, contradicted the defendant's claims that he had been napping inside the family home.

"Once I lied," he said, "I continued to lie." He blamed the earlier denials on paranoia from his years-long addiction to painkillers.

That addiction also featured prominently in his testimony. Mr Murdaugh told jurors a knee injury in college led to a deep dependence on oxycodone, one that he drained his bank account to sate.

"I'm not quite sure how I let myself get where I got," Mr Murdaugh said.

He also referred to one of the more bizarre elements of his saga: a hoax attempt on his life.

He called police in September 2021 - nearly three months after the murders of his wife and son - saying he had been shot in the head on the side of a rural road.

But he later admitted he had paid a distant cousin to shoot him, hoping his surviving son, Buster, could collect on his life insurance policy.

The jury also heard a recording of the 911 call Mr Murdaugh made after his wife and son were killed. In it, he is heard saying: "I should have known."



Family and friends of Alex Murdaugh listen to his emotional testimony on Thursday


Mr Murdaugh explained his statement by saying his son Paul had been the subject of death threats on social media that the family did not take seriously.

"We disregarded it because it was so over the top," he said.

Through hours of questioning, Mr Murdaugh maintained a mostly contrite demeanour, even under cross-examination by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters.

An animated Mr Waters, who paced around the court during questioning, pushed Mr Murdaugh with increasing intensity on a litany of alleged financial crimes.

"I was wrong," Mr Murdaugh said, over and over again. "I remember stealing from people, I remember lying to people and I remember misleading people."

But Mr Murdaugh rejected assertions by Mr Waters that he was concerned about his "financial house of cards" collapsing.

"You have charged me with the murder of my wife and son and I have sat here for all these weeks listening to all this financial stuff that I did wrong, that I'm embarrassed by," Mr Murdaugh said.

But he denied resorting to violence.



[

[Ladybbird]

Alex Murdaugh Verdict: Disgraced Lawyer GUILTY of Killing Wife and Son

A powerful South Carolina lawyer has been found guilty of murdering his wife and son to distract from his multi-million dollar financial crimes.

BBC 1 MAR 2023





The Murdaugh family





Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife, Maggie, and his youngest son Paul

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Alex Murdaugh, 54, of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial.

He faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge.





Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot at close range near the dog kennels on their family estate on 7 June 2021.

Alex Murdaugh stood impassively as he learned his fate during Thursday evening's hearing in Walterboro.

"The evidence of guilt is overwhelming," South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman said as he rejected a defence motion for a mistrial. He scheduled sentencing for Friday morning.

The case - chronicling the downfall of a family born to power and privilege - has captivated the country, inspiring documentaries on Netflix and HBO.

Murdaugh was once an influential personal injury attorney in the state, and for decades until 2006 his family members had served as the leading prosecutors in the area.

But the trial heard that for years he had been stealing from his law partners and clients to feed an addiction to painkillers and an extravagant lifestyle.

Murdaugh had pleaded not guilty to killing his wife and youngest son in an attempt to conceal years of financial corruption - fraud that he himself had acknowledged in court.

After the 12-person jury's verdict, dozens of spectators gathered outside the back of the court where officers ushered a handcuffed Murdaugh quickly into a black van.

Reporters shouted questions, though he remained silent. As police tucked him inside the vehicle, one man behind the media line shouted that he was praying for him.

It took more than a year for investigators to arrest Murdaugh as they untangled the complex case.

In a risky move for any murder defendant, Murdaugh took to the witness stand, trying to convince the jury that someone angry over a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul could have killed his son to seek revenge.

"I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul - ever - under any circumstances," Murdaugh testified.

The case against him was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. No direct evidence - things like a murder weapon, blood on his clothing or an eyewitness - was presented at trial.

Instead the prosecution focused on an incriminating Snapchat video taken by Murdaugh's son just before the murders.

Paul and his mother were killed at the kennels on the family's sprawling hunting estate, known as Moselle.

For 20 months after their murders, Alex Murdaugh told law enforcement repeatedly he had not been at the dog kennels at all that evening, and was at home napping.

But in the Snapchat video filmed by Paul just minutes before the shootings, the defendant's voice could be heard in the background.

On the stand at trial, Murdaugh admitted he had lied, saying his years-long addiction to painkillers had put him in a paranoid state.

The court also heard of Murdaugh's bizarre attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme just three months after he murdered his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son.

Local resident Jessica Williams, 38, stood outside the court watching the proceedings on the phone with her six-year-old daughter.

"I am so happy," she told BBC News after the verdict was announced, adding: "I remember where I was when the verdict for OJ Simpson came down [in 1995]. This was the same thing."

Early on in the proceedings, Judge Newman ruled that prosecutors could bring in evidence of Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes.

Investigators say he stole millions from clients and colleagues, including $3.7m (£3m) in 2019 alone. And at trial, Murdaugh admitted to wide-scale theft.

Prosecutors argued it was these crimes that drove him to murder - that he thought the deaths of Maggie and Paul would gain him sympathy and stave off a reckoning over his other misdeeds.

Murdaugh and his defence team had argued in court that this theory was ludicrous and financial problems would never have led him to murder.

Several witnesses testified that on the night of the murders Alex Murdaugh had asked Maggie, who had been at the family's other property in nearby Edisto Beach, to return to Moselle.

Maggie much preferred Edisto to Moselle and hadn't planned on leaving, her sister Marion Proctor told the court. But Murdaugh's elderly father was dying, and so Mrs Proctor encouraged her to support him.

Alex Murdaugh and his two sons were fond of hunting, and Moselle was home to a collection of guns.

Prosecutors alleged that Murdaugh had used one of these - a .300 Blackout assault-style rifle - to kill Maggie, and another weapon to kill Paul. But they were unable to find either firearm and produce them at trial.

Maggie was shot four or five times with a rifle and their son was shot twice with a shotgun, the trial heard.

South Carolina's top prosecutor, Attorney General Alan Wilson, said: "Today's verdict proves that no-one, no matter who you are in society, is above the law

[Ladybbird]

Chad Daybell Trial & Alex Murdaughs' Plea Deal

Alex Murdaugh Violated Plea Deal by Failing Polygraph Tests, FEDS Say

FBI says Alex Murdaugh lied about where money stolen from clients went and who helped him steal

MSN 31 MAR 2024










On Tuesday, federal authorities said that convicted killer Alex Murdaugh violated the terms of a plea agreement by failing a polygraph test regarding his financial crimes.


Prosecutors, who did not provide specifics, said the FBI interviewed Murdaugh on four instances and he was deceptive and avoided providing answers. They also claimed Murdaugh, 55, failed two polygraph tests in October, according to Greenville News.

In September, Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 federal counts of financial fraud and money laundering. Murdaugh agreed to cooperate with an ongoing investigation — including passing polygraph tests. Prosecutors said Murdaugh violated the terms of his plea deal by failing the polygraph tests and dodging detectives’ questions.

Greenville News reported that Murdaugh’s sentencing is scheduled for April 1. As part of the plea deal, Murdaugh’s federal sentence would run concurrently with his state sentence for similar crimes. Murdaugh, a disbarred attorney, was already sentenced in state court to 27 years for stealing more than $8 million from clients and his former law firm.

According to the Associated Press, Murdaugh’s attorneys are claiming that the FBI examiner who conducted the polygraph test made several comments that rendered it unreliable. They alleged the examiner commented about recently testing Joran van der Sloot, who admitted to killing Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005.

Per Murdaugh’s attorneys, the FBI examiner told Murdaugh that he didn’t believe he killed his wife and son before asking him a confusing question about missing assets.

“There are legitimate questions as to whether the Government intentionally manipulated the results to void the plea agreement and achieve the prosecutors’ stated desire to ‘ensure that he’s never a free man again’,’” defense lawyers Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian wrote, the Associated Press reported.




Prosecutors also alleged on Tuesday that $6 million remains unaccounted for. They sought to have Murdaugh’s polygraph test sealed, citing an ongoing investigation.



In March 2023, Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. He was denied a new trial in January.

[Ladybbird]

Alex Murdaughs' Federal Sentencing

Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison For Federal Financial Crimes

DOJ 15 APR 2024







CHARLESTON, S.C. — Richard Alexander “Alex” Murdaugh, 55, of Hampton, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for 22 federal financial crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud; bank fraud; wire fraud; and money laundering.



Murdaugh was a personal injury attorney at a law firm in Hampton, South Carolina. He pleaded guilty to 22 federal crimes in September 2023, admitting to engaging in three different schemes to obtain money and property from his personal injury clients.

In one scheme, Murdaugh admitted that from in or around July 2011 until at least October 2021, Murdaugh conspired with his banker, Russell Laffitte, to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Murdaugh asked Laffitte to serve as personal representative or conservator for numerous personal injury clients. Laffitte collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees as personal representative or conservator for Murdaugh’s personal injury clients.

As part of the scheme, Murdaugh directed law firm employees to make settlement checks payable to “Palmetto State Bank.” The checks were drawn on Murdaugh’s law firm’s trust account and identified the personal injury clients on the memo lines.

Murdaugh then had the checks delivered to Laffitte, who distributed the checks for Murdaugh’s benefit, including to pay off personal loans and for personal expenses and cash withdrawals. Murdaugh pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, one count of bank fraud, and two counts of wire fraud associated with this scheme.

In November 2022, Laffitte was convicted on six federal charges for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and misapplication of bank funds for his role in this scheme. In August 2023, Laffitte was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

In a second scheme, from at least September 2005 until at least September 2021, Murdaugh obtained money from his clients and his law firm by means of false pretenses. As part of the scheme, he routed and redirected clients’ settlement funds to personally enrich himself, including by:

Drafting, or directing law firm employees to draft, disbursement sheets to send settlement funds to Murdaugh’s bank accounts without proper disclosure or client or law firm approval;
Claiming funds held in the law firm’s trust account as attorney’s fees and directing the disbursement of those funds for his benefit;
Claiming and collecting attorney’s fees on fake or nonexistent annuities;
Creating fraudulent “expenses” that were never incurred on client matters and directing the disbursement of settlement funds to pay the cited costs, including claimed medical expenses, construction expenses, and airline expenses;
Directing other attorneys with whom he was associated on client matters to disburse attorney’s fees directly to him, rather than appropriately routing the fees through the law firm; and
Intercepting insurance proceeds intended for beneficiaries and depositing them directly into his personal account.




Murdaugh admitted that in September 2015, he created a bank account in the name of “Forge,” presenting as a legitimate corporation for structuring insurance settlements. Murdaugh was the owner of and the only authorized signer on this “fake Forge” account.

From in or around May 2017 through at least July 2021, Murdaugh funneled stolen personal injury settlements through the “fake Forge” account. Murdaugh pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of money laundering relating to the theft of client money using the “fake Forge” account.

Finally, Murdaugh admitted that, from in or around February 2018 until at least October 2020, Murdaugh conspired with Beaufort personal injury attorney Cory Fleming to defraud the estate of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper and Murdaugh’s homeowner’s insurance carriers.

In February 2018, Murdaugh’s housekeeper passed away after a fall at Murdaugh’s home. Murdaugh recommended that the housekeeper’s estate hire Fleming to represent them and file a claim against Murdaugh to collect from his homeowner’s insurance policies.


Murdaugh’s insurance companies settled the estate’s claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000. Murdaugh admitted that he directed Fleming to retain hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement funds for their own personal benefit, representing those funds as “prosecution expenses” to the state court.

Murdaugh and Fleming knew the funds did not belong to them and that there were no legitimate prosecution expenses. Murdaugh and Fleming reduced Fleming’s attorney’s fees, and Murdaugh knew he would steal the additional funds.

Murdaugh directed Fleming to draft three checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to “Forge.” Murdaugh then deposited the checks into his “fake Forge” account and used the funds for his own personal enrichment. The estate did not receive any of the settlement funds. Murdaugh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in this scheme.

Fleming pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge for his role in this scheme. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.

“Murdaugh’s victims turned to him when they were particularly vulnerable, after suffering serious injuries and losing loved ones,” said Adair F. Boroughs, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. “They put their trust in him as their lawyer, and he betrayed them. His crimes were cold, calculated, and brazen, and he earned every day of his 40-year sentence. We hope that it provides at least some closure to his victims.”


"Justice was served today and a sentence of this magnitude should caution anyone who engages in financial crimes," said Steve Jensen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Columbia Field Office.


"The defendant's actions undermine the integrity of our financial systems and cause distrust. Our message is clear: We will hold those who commit financial fraud accountable, and they will be met with severe consequences."








Disbarred former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and son, who were found shot to death on the family's property in June 2021.