Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for financial crimes after pleading guilty on Nov. 17.
The sentence was brought by South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman and is added on top of the two life terms in prison that Murdaugh is required to serve for the murder of his wife and son in 2021.
Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison
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The latest conviction revolves around Murdaugh pleading guilty to 22 counts, including breach of trust, money laundering, forgery, and tax evasion. On Tuesday, the embattled attorney said in a Beaufort County courtroom that he did terrible things in the past. Despite this, he said that people placing their trust in him was something that made him proud.
In a statement, South Carolina prosecutor Creighton Waters said that there were many individuals who trusted Murdaugh. He added that this was the reason that the decade-long scheme was able to take place at all.
Waters said that they had people who came to the embattled attorney for help, who later became the victims of the financial crimes. The prosecutor noted that Murdaugh's trustworthiness, power, and influence among community members, lawyers, and banks in the area helped him get away with his deeds, as per Fox News.
During the hearing, Murdaugh addressed the courtroom and the victims of his financial crimes after listening to several of them and their lawyers. He said that their pain and hurt were palpable, noting that they were reasonable.
Murdaugh promised that they resonated with him and that he hoped that the time would come when they could look back and know that he cared for each one of them. He added that he took more and more pills because he tried to hide the realities of the things that he was doing to his victims.
Afterward, he repeated his stance of pleading innocence to the murder of his wife and son while also apologizing to his other son for having to endure scrutiny from the media. He reminded Buster that his family, including his mother, loved him.
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South Carolina Attorney's Financial Crimes
One of Mudaugh's friends since childhood, Jordan Jinks, said that he was crying not for what was stolen from him, but for what the disgraced attorney did to his other victims. He approached his friend after he incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for a neck injury he received when someone rear-ended his vehicle, according to CBS News.
When Jinks paid the bills in advance, he was assured by Murdaugh that he would obtain a settlement to pay him back. When the attorney got the money, he kept it for himself, which led to his friend becoming financially ruined.
State prosecutors said that Murdaugh's plea agreement resolved 101 financial-related charges and a loss of $8.8 million among those who were affected by his schemes. He was also found to have stolen millions of dollars from his law firm and avoided paying hundreds of thousands in state income taxes.
Much of the money that the South Carolina attorney stole was used to pay off personal expenses such as loans and credit card debt. There was also one case where Murdaugh took a luxury trip and billed his client for the expense, said BBC.
