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Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh allegedly spent more than $110,000 buying a Georgia funeral home in January 2020, according to local court documents filed Tuesday.
Court documents filed in Hampton County, South Carolina show that on January 7, 2020, Murdaugh transferred $147,000 from local Palmetto State Bank to Southeastern Bank in Georgia on behalf of John Martin, the owner of Martin’s Funeral Home LLC has transferred. Russell Laffitte, the since-fired CEO of Palmetto State Bank, later logged off on the wire.
Martin used the money to secure the purchase of the former Hall Jones & Brown Funeral Home in Brunswick, Georgia.
ALEX MURDAUGH ASSISTED BY DEAF QUADRIPLEGIC, PATROL VIOLATED DURING DUTY: LAWYER
His company owns a funeral home in Estill, South Carolina, in Hampton County, where Murdaugh’s great-grandfather founded a personal injury law practice more than a century ago in 1910. The prominent family of lawyers also ran the local law firm, where Murdaugh served as a volunteer prosecutor through September, for 86 consecutive years.
Alex Murdaugh awaits the start of his bond hearing at the Richland Judicial Center in Columbia, SC on October 19, 2021.
(AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine, Pool)
A cursory examination of Murdaugh’s financial records does not indicate that Martin ever repaid Murdaugh.
Martin has not responded to subpoenas regarding the transaction, so Tuesday’s filing asked the court to compel the funeral home operator to produce the requested records.
The court documents were filed by a law firm representing the two bankruptcy trustees who were hired to manage Murdaugh’s finances in November 2021 to prevent the former attorney from liquidating assets while the mother of the Mallory Beach boating victim is still pursuing a lawsuit against the powerful family and other parties.
Alex Murdaugh, right, is seen here with his family.
(Fox News)
Murdaugh’s son, Paul Murdaugh, has been charged with driving under the influence of boats in the February 2018 crash that killed 19-year-old Beach and injured several other teenage passengers.
Paul Murdaugh and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were shot dead in a double homicide on June 14, 2021 at the family’s hunting property in Colleton County, South Carolina. Following the still-unsolved murders of his wife and younger son, Alex Murdaugh, a botched suicide scheme is said to have hatched as a series of alleged financial fraud crimes came to light.
The alleged victims of the embezzlement schemes include the sons of his dead housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, the family of a deaf quadriplegic, a former highway cop who was injured on duty, and other former legal clients.
Murdaugh has been incarcerated at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County since October.
Alex Murdaugh arrives for his bond hearing in Richland County, South Carolina on October 19, 2021.
(Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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In 15, 75-count indictments against Murdaugh, a South Carolina grand jury has indicted Murdaugh on nearly $8.5 million in victim fraud schemes. Last month, the state indicted for the first time an alleged co-conspirator, Cory Fleming, who accused Murdaugh’s close friend and former college roommate of alleged plans to swindle victims in excess of $3.6 million.
Laffitte, who was also implicated in the alleged fraud schemes, was fired by the CEO of Palmetto State Bank in January and has reportedly been cooperating with investigators.
