A federal grand jury in South Carolina on May 24 returned a 22-count indictment against Alex Murdaugh for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. If Murdaugh stole that money, it will be relatively easy to prove it. What makes this indictment particularly galling to plaintiffs’ attorneys (like me) is that lawyers like Murdaugh make life harder for the vast majority of lawyers (like me) who don’t steal from clients.
Murdaugh’s strategy in his murder trial was to take the stand and admit to lying and stealing from his clients, but deny that he was a killer. It didn’t work.
Murdaugh was convicted by a jury in state court in March of the shooting deaths of his 22-year-old son, Paul and 52-year-old wife, Maggie. But there will be no jury trial in this federal case. Murdaugh will plead guilty. Unlike in state court cases, 90% to 98% percent of all federal criminal cases end in guilty pleas. And Murdaugh has already handed this case to prosecutors on a silver platter. Murdaugh’s strategy in his murder trial was to take the stand and admit to lying and stealing from his clients, but deny that he was a killer. It didn’t work. The jury still found him guilty of murder. Now he’s got to deal with all those confessions to financial crimes that he made under oath.
Even if Murdaugh hadn’t taken the stand, this federal case is a “paper” case, meaning it doesn’t rise and fall on the credibility of eyewitnesses. Instead, Murdaugh’s crimes will likely be evident from financial records: bank statements, check images and law firm records.
The federal indictment accuses Murdaugh of “claiming funds held in the law firm’s trust account as attorney’s fees and directing the disbursement of those funds for his benefit.” Murdaugh’s clumsy chicanery involving his client trust accounts has attorneys everywhere agape. An attorney has a duty to place funds of clients and in a client trust account separate from…
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