CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Alex Murdaugh was arraigned Wednesday on federal money laundering and wire fraud charges on allegations that he stole money from his clients, and while he has pleaded not guilty for now, his attorney said that could change soon.
Murdaugh is already serving a life sentence in a South Carolina state prison for killing his wife and son, and the details of the 22 financial charges are not new. State prosecutors indicted Murdaugh on similar charges, saying she diverted money meant for clients and a wrongful death settlement for her family’s housekeeper that fell at Murdaugh’s home into her own bank accounts.
Murdaugh’s attorneys said in a statement last week that the former attorney has been cooperating with federal investigators, anticipating the latest charges would be «resolved expeditiously without trial.»
A federal guilty plea to the charges that carry at least 20 years in prison would guarantee long prison time for Murdaugh, even if his pending appeal of his double-murder conviction were successful.
Murdaugh took the stand at his murder trial earlier this year to repeatedly deny shooting his 22-year-old son, Paul, and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, in their home. Prosecutors said he decided to kill them because their millions of dollars of theft was about to be discovered, and he hoped their deaths would give him sympathy and time to uncover a cover-up.
Murdaugh, who served 55 years in a state prison cell in protective custody on Saturday, also faces about 100 other state charges, including theft from clients and his family’s law firm, insurance fraud and tax evasion.
Prosecutors, Murdaugh’s lawyers and State Judge Clifton Newman, who presided over the murder trial, are trying to find court time to try at least some of those charges before Newman has to retire because of his late age. of 2023.
In federal court, Murdaugh faces 14 counts of money laundering, five counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
His longtime friend Cory Fleming, a former college roommate and godfather to one of his children, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in helping Murdaugh steal more than $4 million in settlements. for wrongful death with insurers for the family. from her longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
The other allegations that prosecutors detail in Murdaugh’s federal indictments have already been revealed in state legal documents.
He said Murdaugh and a banker friend, Russell Laffitte, worked together to get settlement money out of client accounts, prosecutors said. Laffitte was convicted in November on six counts of wire and bank fraud.
Other federal indictments provide detailed allegations of how Murdaugh created a bank account that had a name similar to that of a legitimate company that handled deals to steal money from customers.