Alex Murdaugh, a greedy and ghoulish personal injury lawyer comes from a family of lawyers. His father and grandfathers were prosecutors for a five-county district while also running a powerful private law firm for a century.
Alex Murdaugh was arrested in September 2021 for staging his death and much more. He publically spoke for the first time during his bond hearing in December 2021. So what all did he do? Read on to learn the story of a real-life villain who hid behind the veil of the legal system.
Who is Alex Murdaugh?
Alex Murdaugh comes from a prominent legal family in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. The family founded a nationally influential civil litigation law firm in Hampton, South Carolina. From 1920 to 2006, three members of this family served as solicitors (i.e. district attorney), in charge of prosecuting all criminal cases in the state’s 14th circuit district for the five-county district “Murdaugh Country”.
Alex Murdaugh, aka Richard Alexander, graduated from USC in 1990 and from the USC School of Law in 1994, and soon joined the Murdaugh family firm while volunteering part-time in the 14th circuit solicitor’s office. He married Margaret Kennedy Branstetter (called Maggie) and had two sons, Richard Alexander Jr. (Buster) and Paul Terry.
Today, Alex Murdaugh is imprisoned in a maximum-security jail cell in Columbia, South Carolina where he faced 53 charges for a faked shooting attempt and defrauding his client. As per the latest sources, Murdaugh may be sentenced to 508 years in prison if convicted on all counts. So what exactly did he do? Well, that’s a tale to narrate.
What Did Alex Murdaugh Do?
In June 2021, Alex’s wife Margaret aka Maggie (52) and son Paul (22) were found murdered near their home. The mystery of their death still hangs over Alex, who is a person of interest. However, he denies any involvement in the said crime.
Alex Opened Up For The First Time…
Alex Murdaugh spoke publically for the first time during his bond hearing on December 13, 2021. He said: “I made a terrible decision that I regret and frankly I’m embarrassed about. I’m not in that place now. My head is on straighter, I’m thinking clearer than I have in a long, long time. I want to deal with these charges appropriately and head-on.
He added, “I want to repair as much of the damage that I’ve done as I can. I want to repair as many of the relationships as I can.” Here is a list of all the charges faced by Alex Murdaugh:
Not only this but Alex’s law license was suspended and remained a named party in six related lawsuits and the focus of at least seven investigations, one led by the FBI and another exploring possible ties to a stateside drug trafficking scheme that was prosecuted by current South Carolina governor Henry McMaster.
As of January 2021, Murdaugh faces 71 charges that he stole nearly $8.5 million in wrongful death and wreck settlements from more than a dozen people after another round of indictments. The 23 new charges issued by the state grand jury covered new victims but similar schemes.
The Present Status
Murdaugh was indicted by the South Carolina State Grand Jury in November 2021, December 2021, January 2022, and March 2022 for 75 counts including Breach of Trust with Fraudulent Intent, Money Laundering, Computer Crimes, Forgery, Obtaining Property by False Pretenses and Criminal Conspiracy.
In March 2022, attorneys filed a confession of judgement in Hampton County admitting Alex’s liability in relation to allegations involving the estate of Gloria Satterfield and agreeing not to contest claims in civil court. Satterfield died in February 2018 following what was reported as a trip and fall accident at Murdaugh’s Colleton County home, Moselle.
Murdaugh faces criminal charges and a civil suit for the reason that he, in his capacity as an attorney in Hampton County, orchestrated a scheme to defraud the heirs of Satterfield out of wrongful death insurance settlement funds. Murdaugh is currently in custody at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, Columbia, South Carolina.
