Palmetto State Financial institution CEO Russell Laffitte (left) was indicted on fees that he helped accused assassin Alex Murdaugh launder and misappropriate funds from purchasers.
Kershaw County Detention Middle; ORANGE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/Handout through REUTERS/File Photograph
An affiliate of former South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was indicted on fees that he helped the accused assassin launder and misappropriate thousands and thousands of dollars.
A federal grand jury charged former Palmetto State Financial institution CEO Russell Laffitte with conspiracy, wire fraud, and financial institution fraud on Wednesday.
Laffitte served as a conservator for Alania Spohn and Hannah Plyler, two younger sisters represented by Murdaugh. The sisters had been awarded settlement cash in reference to a 2005 accident that killed their mom and brother, based on the indictment.
Laffitte allegedly schemed with the disgraced lawyer to pillage the ladies’ accounts and steal $355,000 for himself and $990,000 for Murdaugh, court docket paperwork mentioned.
He additionally misused financial institution funds to offer Murdaugh an unauthorized $750,000 mortgage for “seashore home renovations and bills” and despatched $680,000 of the financial institution’s cash to pay again a debt Murdaugh had illegally transferred to him, based on the grand jury.
As well as, Laffitte earned almost $400,000 for supposedly safeguarding the Plyler sister’s cash, based on the doc. He had allegedly been in cahoots with Murdaugh to steal from the ladies since 2011 and faces 30 years in jail if convicted.
Laffitte was fired from his function because the financial institution’s CEO in January, based on The Greenfield Information. His household reportedly launched the establishment in 1907, simply three years earlier than Murdaugh’s great-grandfather based the legislation agency that bore his identify.
Murdaugh, 54, who pleaded not responsible on Wednesday in reference to the brutal murders of his spouse and son, was recognized within the doc solely as “The Financial institution Buyer,” however was outed by legal professionals for the now-grown Plyler sisters.
“The women seen Russ Laffitte as a father determine and trusted him to navigate the waters forward for them and to information them,” legal professionals Eric Bland and Ronald Richter wrote in an announcement.
“It's tough to specific the feelings and disappointment of studying years later that those that had sworn to guard the Plylers selected as a substitute to prey upon them. Russ Laffitte and Alex Murdaugh plundered their conservator accounts and handled it like their very own private slush fund,” the assertion continued.
Murdaugh, a once-powerful authorized scion in Hampton County, faces 71 fees in connection along with his alleged theft of a mixed $8.5 million from purchasers.
The kids of his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died on the Murdaugh house underneath suspicious circumstances in 2018, recovered $4.3 million final 12 months that he allegedly pilfered from them by suing himself to gather private legal responsibility insurance coverage.
Murdaugh allegedly killed his spouse Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, at their searching property final June after which employed a drug supplier to attempt to kill him so his surviving son may gather $10 million in life insurance coverage funds.
The gunman didn't kill Murdaugh, grazing him as a substitute, and the as soon as distinguished lawyer was disbarred when prosecutors filed fees in reference to the botched hit.
Murdaugh then stepped down from the distinguished legislation agency that his great-grandfather based to go to rehab for opioid dependancy, his lawyer mentioned. The agency has since eliminated his household identify from its title.
The Murdaugh’s swift fall from grace started after Paul was arrested for a drunken boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Seashore in 2019. He was allegedly murdered by his father earlier than he may stand trial.
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