On Tuesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court formally disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh, who remains jailed on a slew of financial fraud charges and is expected to be charged with his wife and son’s murders this week.
The state court had suspended Murdaugh’s license in September 2021, days after he was left injured in an alleged suicide-for-hire plot that would have resulted in an insurance payout for his surviving son. Murdaugh was expected to appear in court on June 22 to respond to his potential disbarment, but on June 16, he waived his right to that hearing and said he will accept whatever ruling the state supreme court hands down, according to the Greenville News.
Regarding his possible disbarment, the court wrote, “There is no factual dispute about whether Respondent engaged in dishonest conduct. Respondent’s admissions in the criminal proceedings that he engaged in conduct that violates the Rules of Professional Conduct satisfies ODC’s burden of proving that same misconduct in connection with the pending disciplinary proceedings.”
Murdaugh is currently facing 84 criminal counts, as he has been accused of stealing money from a slew of clients and his former law firm.
Murdaugh survived the alleged suicide plot, which reportedly entailed him having former client Curtis Smith, 61, shoot him in the head so his son Buster would receive a $10 million insurance payout. A day before the September 3 shooting, Murdaugh was forced out of his family law firm amid allegations he misappropriated funds.
He announced he was entering rehabilitation for drugs two days after the shooting.
In October 2021, Murdaugh was rearrested upon leaving a rehabilitation center in Florida for allegedly stealing $4.3 million from the estate of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who suffered a fatal fall on his property in February 2018.
In that case, he was accused of stealing insurance payouts that were intended for Satterfield’s family. Authorities recently announced plans to exhume Satterfield’s body amid an ongoing probe.
Last month, Murdaugh and Smith were indicted for allegedly purchasing and distributing oxycodone in multiple counties.
Murdaugh remains jailed on a $7 million bond. Sometime this week, he is expected to be charged with the June 2021 slayings of his wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, 52 and 22, who were found fatally shot at their family’s 1,770-acre lodge in Colleton County.
No arrests have been made in connection with their deaths.
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[Featured image: Alex Murdaugh/Hampton County Jail]
