Alex Murdaugh’s personal banker was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison on Friday for his role in the convicted murderer’s multi-million fraud schemes.
US District Court Judge Mark Gergel’s sentence was less than the prosecution sought, and more than the defense sought. Gergel said that witnesses on Russell Laffitte’s behalf said “a lot about the good deeds that Laffitte has done, but there was an elaborate criminal scheme,” according to WCIV.
“There was not just bad judgment, there was complicity,” the judge said.
Laffitte, 53, was convicted last year of conspiring with Murdaugh to misappropriate funds at the Palmetto State Bank where he worked. He has twice sought a new trial — once because of Murdaugh’s testimony at his murder trial that “Russell Laffitte never conspired with me to do anything” — but he was twice denied, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
In his second denial, Gergel said that Murdaugh, currently serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son, “is manifestly not a credible witness.”
“Evidence offered during the Defendant’s trial established without question that Murdaugh is a serial liar and fraudster who stole from his clients and law partners,” the judge wrote in his ruling earlier this year. “He now stands convicted of the double homicide of his wife and son. It is difficult to imagine a less credible witness under these circumstances.”
Murdaugh has not yet faced trial on more than 100 charges that he defrauded clients and his law firm alike.
Although Laffitte faced up to 30 years in prison, prosecutors were seeking 9 to 11 years plus $3.55 million in restitution, a sentence his attorneys called “draconian,” WPDE reported. They proposed 3 to 5 years in a minimum security prison with provisions to allow him to reeducate himself for a new career, now that his banking career is over.
Laffitte’s attorneys, however, still insist their client had no idea what Murdaugh was doing. He intends to appeal his conviction on six felonies.
Prosecutors, however, presented evidence that Laffitte gave himself loans from a substantial settlement for two juvenile girls for which Murdaugh had asked him to serve as conservator until they were 18. He charged himself less interest than was standard, didn’t charge himself late fees on repayment, and failed to keep proper records.
The two sisters testified at his trial that Laffitte made it difficult for them to access their money, and prosecutors said that it was Laffitte who brought Murdaugh into the scamming-from-clients, “rob Peter to pay Paul” scheme, not the other way around, as both profited from the schemes for the next several years.
After 19-year-old Mallory Beach died in a drunken boat crash in 2019 — the boat was driven by Murdaugh’s underage son Paul — Beach’s family filed suit. By June 2021, Murdaugh’s storied family law firm was about to launch an investigation into the missing money it knew about, and a judge was days away from ordering the attorney to open his finances for Beach’s family to review.
Then, on June 7, Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul were gunned down on the Murdaugh hunting property. Murdaugh claimed to have found the bodies, but he was eventually charged with their deaths as the financial crimes came pouring into the light.
The story grew more lurid over the summer of 2021 and into the fall, as Murdaugh lost his law firm, his law license, and his freedom.
During the sensational murder trial earlier this year, he admitted to the financial crimes, famously insisting that he did it all by himself with no help from any of his several accused co-conspirators.
But he insisted that he did not kill his wife and son. The jury didn’t believe him, and took just three hours to return a guilty verdict.
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[Featured image: Russell Laffitte/Kershaw County Detention Center and Alex Murdaugh/South Carolina Department of Corrections]
