Alex Murdaugh faces court to plead guilty to stealing millions from clients

Convicted killer and disgraced legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh appeared in federal court today to plead guilty to a string of financial fraud charges – admitting that he stole millions of dollars from law firm clients for his own personal benefit.

The double murderer stood before U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel at the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center in Charleston where he waived his right to a jury trial and confirmed to the court his wish to change his plea to guilty.

Murdaugh had confirmed earlier this week that he’d plead guilty to 22 federal charges, which include wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

Andrea Cavallier has the story.

Curtis “Cousin Eddie” Smith has claimed that Alex Murdaugh made a bombshell confession about his wife and son’s murders before orchestrating the now-infamous botched hitman plot.

Mr Smith – a former law firm client, distant cousin and alleged drug dealer of Murdaugh – is facing a string of charges over the 4 September 2021 incident where he allegedly shot the double murderer in the head along the side of a road in Hampton County.

Now, in the new series of Netflix’s Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, released on Wednesday, the 62-year-old revealed never-before-heard details about the bizarre encounter.

Mr Smith claimed that Murdaugh begged him to shoot him in an assisted suicide scheme – a shocking request that he said he refused.

Former attorney Cory Fleming was sentenced to 13 years and 10 months in prison on charges that he conspired with his longtime friend Alex Murdaugh to steal millions of dollars from trusting clients.

Fleming pleaded guilty last month to the financial fraud charges that stem from Murdaugh’s alleged scheme to steal money from the estate of his dead housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. Satterfield died in a fall on the Murdaugh property in 2018.

He was also involved in stealing money from the family of Hakeem Pinckney – a man whose family Murdaugh represented after he was killed in a car crash in 2009.

Andrea Cavallier reported on the sentencing for The Independent.

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has accused a South Carolina court clerk of tampering with the jury at his high-profile double murder trial – because she was driven by fame and a desire to secure a book deal.

The disgraced legal scion and double murderer filed a motion on Tuesday requesting a new trial on the basis that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill allegedly pressured jurors on the case to return a guilty verdict against him.

In the motion, Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin claim that Ms Hill “tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense”.

Rachel Sharp filed this report with the details.

Buster Murdaugh has broken his silence to deny any involvement in the mysterious killing of gay teenager Stephen Smith – and insist that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother.

Alex Murdaugh’s only surviving son spoke out in his first TV interview since his family was propelled to national attention, for the new three-part FOX Nation documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh”.

In the interview, Buster slammed rumours that he too could have been involved in a heinous murder – that of 19-year-old Smith in July 2015 – and offered an alibi for his whereabouts on the night the teenager was killed.

Prosecutors have responded to Alex Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial on the grounds of jury tampering allegations at his murder trial, stating that South Carolina investigators have found “significant factual disputes” with the claims.

The response filed on Friday by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson concedes a hearing may be needed to decide if the convicted killer should get a new trial - but moved to dismiss the motion for a “procedural defect” in the filing.

It’s the state’s first response to the bombshell motion filed by Murdaugh’s attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian last week that accused Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill of pressuring jurors to return a guilty verdict earlier this year.

An investigation was launched by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which the AG claims is still ongoing, but has said has “revealed significant factual disputes as to claims in (Murdaugh’s) motion.”

Read the full story.

Attorney Justin Bamberg, who represents multiple victims of Alex Murdaugh, released the following statement regarding the plea deal:

Given the severity and callousness of his crimes, Alex Murdaugh should never receive any incentive-based deal from the government, be it federal or state, and we respectfully disagree with the federal government’s voluntary decision to concede to a concurrent sentence in exchange for his guilty plea and agreement to “cooperate”.

To use a sports analogy, plea deals with incentives are for the beginning of the game — not in the 4th quarter with 30 seconds left on the clock. At his murder trial and in an attempt to appear to acknowledge his many wrongdoings, Murdaugh testified that he did all of the financial crimes alone. Today, he pleaded guilty to working hand-in-hand with co-conspirators. Where fact begin and fiction end with Alex?

We trust that the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office will remain steadfast in its commitment to hold Murdaugh accountable and will give him no breaks and offer no incentives; that ship sailed years ago. Murdaugh’s victims are looking forward to seeing him receive the individual sentences he earned via his own individual criminal conduct toward each of them under South Carolina law.

Andrea Cavallier explains what to expect as America’s biggest true crime fanatics gearing up for their Super Bowl in Orlando this weekend.

Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill had nothing to say when she was spotted on Thursday for the first time since being accused of tampering with the jury in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial.

Ms Hill clutched her cell phone, a drink and a stack of papers in one hand as she crossed the street in Walterboro, South Carolina, around 10am and walked into the courthouse through a back gate.

In a video posted by Fox News, a photographer could be heard asking her, “Did you tamper with the jurors?”

The court clerk glanced over at the photographer, but ignored the comment and kept walking.

“Anything?” the photographer asked as she accessed the gate and walked inside. “Did you tamper with the jurors, Rebecca?”

Read on...

A federal judge has granted a motion that would postpone the start of a prison sentence for former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte.

South Carolina US District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Laffitte to seven years in federal prison on 2 August for his role as an accomplice in convicted killer Alex Murdaugh’s financial crimes.

Laffitte filed a motion to appeal on 8 August, followed by a motion for release pending that appeal on 14 August.

A week later he and prosecutors agreed to postpone the beginning of the prison term until 21 September, with the court saying it would give the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals an “adequate opportunity” to address the motion for release pending appeal, Live 5 WCSC reports. The appeals court has not yet ruled.

Continued...