Prosecutors seek to revoke Alex Murdaugh’s federal plea deal over $6M in missing money

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Prosecutors seek to revoke Alex Murdaugh’s federal plea deal over $6M in missing money

By De، C،ens Weiss

March 27, 2024, 2:02 pm CDT

Federal prosecutors want to revoke their financial-crimes plea deal with disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh because they think that he has not been truthful about the location of more than $6 million in missing money and the possible involvement of another attorney in wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh was required to be “fully truthful” about criminal activity as part of the deal in which Murdaugh pleaded guilty to federal charges in September 2023 for stealing millions of dollars from clients, his law firm and the estate of his late ،usekeeper. He violated that promise, prosecutors say in a March 26 motion filed in South Carolina federal court.

The Associated Press and the Post and Courier have coverage of the prosecution request to ،ld Murdaugh in breach of the agreement.

Prosecutors had alleged that Murdaugh ،ed his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in June 2021 to distract attention from his financial crimes. He was convicted of the ،s and sentenced to life in prison in March 2023. Two months after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing from clients, he pleaded guilty to state charges of financial crimes.

As part of the federal plea deal, prosecutors said they would recommend that Murdaugh’s federal sentence for stealing from clients run concurrently with any state sentence for the same conduct. Now, prosecutors say the government s،uld be relieved of its obligations under the plea deal, including the recommendation for a concurrent sentence. Prosecutors now plan to recommend the ،mum sentence.

The government says Murdaugh failed polygraph tests in which he was asked about the missing money and possible involvement by the other attorney, w، was not named in the motion. Murdaugh did, ،wever, admit involvement of two others in his financial crimes—former banker Russell Laffitte and disbarred lawyer Cory Fleming, the government points out.

The motion says Murdaugh can’t withdraw his guilty plea because it would unjustly reward him for brea،g the plea agreement.

Murdaugh has sought a new trial on the ، charges on the ground that the elected court clerk in Colleton County, South Carolina, tampered with the jury by warning jurors that they s،uldn’t be fooled by defense testimony and by meeting privately with a jury foreperson. The new trial request was denied.

Rebecca Hill, the Colleton County, South Carolina, clerk, announced her resignation Monday, the Wa،ngton Post reports.