Alex Murdaugh Gets 40 Years in Federal Prison for Stealing From Clients and His Law Firm – Possibly for the final occasion, Alex Murdaugh, clad in a prison jumpsuit rather than the usual suit, entered a courtroom in South Carolina on Monday and received a 40-year federal prison sentence. This time, Murdaugh faced consequences in federal court for embezzling from clients and his law firm.
The 55-year-old disbarred lawyer is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a state prison for the murder of his wife and son. Federal agents had suggested a sentence ranging from 17 1/2 to just under 22 years. Murdaugh also admitted guilt in state court for financial crimes and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
The federal sentence will coincide with his state prison term, and he is likely to serve the entire 40 years if his murder convictions are overturned upon appeal. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel stated that he imposed a more severe penalty on Murdaugh than recommended because he had stolen from “the most needy, vulnerable people,” which included a client who became a quadriplegic after an accident, a state trooper injured while on duty, and a trust fund designated for children whose parents died in a collision.
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Murdaugh stole from people who “placed all their problems and all their hopes” on him, Gergel said. The 22 federal charges represent the last legal matters pending for Murdaugh, who, just three years ago, was a respected attorney brokering multimillion-dollar settlements in the small Hampton County. His family members held positions as elected prosecutors and operated the region’s leading law firm for almost a century.
Additionally, Murdaugh will be required to pay nearly $9 million in restitution. “There is a staggering human toll to every cent,” said attorney Justin Bamberg, who represented several of Murdaugh’s victims. Prosecutors urged the judge to impose a tougher sentence on Murdaugh based on FBI agents’ belief that he hasn’t fully disclosed the truth regarding the whereabouts of the $6 million he embezzled, as well as whether an, as yet unnamed, attorney aided his illicit schemes.
Murdaugh’s most significant scheme revolved around the sons of his long-serving housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who tragically passed away in a fall at the family residence. Initially, Murdaugh assured to support Satterfield’s family, but he collaborated with a lawyer acquaintance, who later admitted guilt in a plot to unlawfully obtain $4 million from a wrongful death settlement with the family’s insurer.
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In total, Murdaugh either misappropriated settlement funds or inflated fees and expenses for over two dozen clients. Prosecutors disclosed that the FBI uncovered 11 additional victims beyond those identified in the state investigation, estimating that Murdaugh embezzled nearly $1.3 million from them.
Murdaugh again apologized to his victims at his sentencing Monday, saying he felt “guilt, sorrow, shame, embarrassment, humiliation.” He offered to meet with victims so they can say what they want to say and “more closely inspect my sincerity.” “There’s not enough time and I don’t possess a sufficient vocabulary to adequately portray to you in words the magnitude of how I feel about the things I did,” Murdaugh said.
Attributing his actions to almost two decades of opioid addiction, Murdaugh expressed that he takes pride in having maintained sobriety for 937 days. Gergel scoffed at this explanation. “No truly impaired person could pull off these complex transactions,” the judge said of the maze of fake accounts, juggled checks and money movements that hid the thefts for nearly 20 years.
Prosecutor Emily Limehouse argued that Murdaugh’s assertions lack coherence since he informed the FBI that he was consuming the same quantity of pills as he did when his addiction commenced in 2008, yet the amount of money he embezzled surged significantly in the years leading up to his apprehension.
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“He was adamant all of the money was spent on drugs. It doesn’t add up,” Limehouse said. A year ago, Murdaugh was found guilty of using a shotgun to kill his younger son, Paul, and a rifle to kill his wife, Maggie. Despite pleading guilty to numerous financial offenses, he vehemently denies responsibility for their deaths and testified in his defense. The murder cases are expected to undergo years of appeals.
This case has captivated enthusiasts of true crime, leading to the creation of numerous podcast episodes and thousands of social media posts. Prosecutors are seeking to maintain the confidentiality of many FBI statements, contending that they are still probing the whereabouts of the missing funds and identifying potential accomplices in Murdaugh’s embezzlement scheme. They argue that releasing this information to the public could compromise an ongoing grand jury investigation.
Also, the defense requested a more lenient sentence, drawing comparisons between Murdaugh’s potential punishment and the 25 years handed to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried or the 11 years received by Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes for defrauding investors, highlighting that they swindled billions whereas Murdaugh’s thefts amounted to millions.