A South Carolina bank scion was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for allegedly helping disbarred attorney and recently convicted murderer and drug dealer Alex Murdaugh steal hundreds of thousands from his legal clients. The new indictment of former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte is the first time federal prosecutors in South Carolina have sought charges through FBI investigations into the long fall from grace of Murdaugh, whose family ran a prominent law firm. personal injury firm for nearly a century. and also controlled the local prosecution in the Lower Country of the state for several generations. Meanwhile, Laffitte’s family founded the Palmetto State Bank in the same rural town of Hampton, South Carolina, around the same time in 1907. The federal grand jury indictment, issued in Charleston, does not name Murdaugh, but says Laffitte collected $391,781.07 in fees to serve as a retainer and personal representative for six clients of an unidentified “bank client,” the who prosecutors describe as working for a “personal injury attorney at a law firm in Hampton, South Carolina.” Attorneys representing at least two of those clients and the alleged victims — now grown sisters who were seriously injured in a tragic 2005 car crash that killed their mother and brother — identified Murdaugh as a client of the bank. As children at the time of the fatal accident, Alania Spahn and Hannah Plyler trusted Murdaugh, his law firm, Laffitte and Palmetto State Bank to guide them through a subsequent lawsuit and maintaining the following financial settlement until they closed the 18. OUTSTANDING SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY ALEX MURDAUGH DECLARES TOLERANCE FOR KILLERS OF WIFE, SON “As the years went on, the girls looked to Russ Lafitte as a father figure and trusted him to navigate the waters ahead of them and guide them,” according to the statement released by attorneys Eric Blunt and Ronald Richter. “It’s hard to express the feelings and disappointment that I learned years later that those sworn to protect the Plylers chose to loot them. Russ Laffitte and Alex Murdaugh looted their conservator’s accounts and treated it like their own personal slush fund.” New photos for Alex Murdaugh and Russell Laffitte Wednesday, July 20, 2022. (Richland County Detention Center/Kershaw County Detention Center) “Conservatorship accounts are sacred. They are not financial playgrounds for those assigned the role of conservatorship,” continued Bland and Richter’s statement provided to Fox News Digital Wednesday. “It is right and proper that Mr. Laffitte should answer for his conduct. Perhaps others will be called upon to answer important questions about their role in the Plyler tragedy in the coming months. In any case, the Plylers are committed to providing any cooperation that may be required, and are humbled that the US Attorney has chosen their case as the first case to enter Murdaugh’s playing field.” Laffitte was fired from Palmetto State Bank in January after new allegations surfaced that he helped Murdaugh and Murdaugh’s lawyer friend and former college roommate, Cory Fleming, steal from another legitimate customer named Hakeem L. Pinckney, a deaf man athlete who became a quadriplegic after a rollover car accident that also seriously injured members of his family. Although the first federal charges followed Wednesday, Laffitte was first indicted in May by a South Carolina grand jury in the alleged scheme reminiscent of the Pinckney family. ALEX MURDAUGH MADE OF DEAF QUADriplegic, ROAD PATROL INJURED ON DUTY: LAWYER Alex Murdaugh appears for a hearing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, SC, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. ((Gavin McIntyre/The Post And Courier via AP)) Also Wednesday, Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to new murder charges accusing him of killing his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their 22-year-old son, Paul Murdaugh, on June 7, 2021. The mysterious deaths at the family’s vast estate have sparked a series of investigations into Murdo’s financial dealings. Prosecutors have so far not revealed what evidence ultimately led to charges against Alex Murdaugh after the 13-month investigation. Last September, Murdaugh confronted other lawyers at the same personal injury law firm that carried his family’s name for allegedly stealing millions, and the next day, Murdaugh was grazed by a bullet on a rural road in an alleged botched suicide plot. for rent. Murdaugh and his would-be killer, Curtis Smith, were also recently indicted in a state court in connection with an alleged drug ring that trafficked opioids in the area. ALEX MURDAUGH CHARGED IN ALLEGED DRUG TRAFFICKING SCHEME WITH WANTED HITMAN OPIOID SELLER After being airlifted to the hospital after the Labor weekend shooting in Hampton County, Murdaugh did face charges of murder-for-hire, but was released on his own recognizance and allowed to travel out of state and go to drug rehab centers. He was rearrested in October and charged with defrauding the family of his dead housekeeper and former nanny, Gloria Satterfield, out of $4.3 million in settlements. Murdaugh has since been jailed. Alex Murdaugh is led out of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, SC, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. ((Tracy Glantz/The State via AP)) Satterfield died in hospital in February 2018 weeks after an alleged trip and fall down the stairs at Murdo’s home. State authorities last month said they would exhume her body. Wednesday’s indictment says Laffitte provided $355,000 in personal loans to himself and $990,000 in personal loans to Murdaugh from funds held at the bank belonging to personal injury clients. He is also charged with willful misuse of bank funds. Specifically, on Oct. 28, 2021, Laffitte paid the law firm $680,000 without notice or consent from the bank, knowing it had fraudulently transferred the money to Murdaugh, according to the federal indictment. Finally, the federal indictment alleges that on July 15, 2021, Laffitte knowingly misappropriated $750,000 of bank funds by making a commercial loan to Murdaugh. The banker did so knowing that the loan was substantially unsecured and that the proceeds of the loan would and would be used to pay an attorney and cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in overdrafts on Murdaugh’s personal account. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Lafitte faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on all charges, federal prosecutors said. Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
