Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including money laundering and bank fraud, according to court documents. The former lawyer stole money from clients, including teenagers and a quadriplegic man, to fund the family’s extravagant lifestyle and his addiction to opioid pills that forced him into a rehabilitative-care facility three times before the June 2021 slayings.
Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to shift the focus away from himself and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered. In all, Murdaugh is accused of swindling nearly $9 million.
Altogether, the financial crimes carry decades-long prison sentences and millions of dollars in fines, probably meaning a life of incarceration for Murdaugh even if he successfully appeals the life sentences he received in March for fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
Murdaugh told the judge he wanted to be held accountable for stealing from his clients and do right by his surviving son, Buster, according to the Associated Press: “I want to take responsibility. I want my son to see me take responsibility. It’s my hope that by taking responsibility that the people I’ve hurt can begin to heal.”
The former patriarch of a South Carolina legal dynasty maintained throughout his double murder trial that he did not kill his wife and youngest son, which fueled the national intrigue about a rich family gone bad, as depicted in documentaries on Netflix and HBO.
The date of Murdaugh’s sentencing hearing was not listed on federal court documents. He still faces about 100 state charges — including insurance fraud charges for allegedly hiring a man to kill him so his surviving son could receive at least $10 million in life insurance. The bullet grazed Alex Murdaugh’s head.
Investigators alleged that Murdaugh did not pay taxes on his stolen money and ran a drug and money laundering ring, according to the AP. He is slated to face trial on some of those charges in November.
There are still many questions swirling around the Murdaughs, including about the 2015 hit-and-run death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith. A couple of weeks after Alex Murdaugh was convicted, authorities publicly said Smith’s death was being investigated as a homicide. The Netflix docuseries alleged that Smith might have had a relationship with Buster Murdaugh, which many in the series said would have been unacceptable to the close-minded and powerful family.
An attorney for the Smith family said the teenager’s body has been exhumed for more investigation. In a statement through his attorney, Buster Murdaugh denied any link to the death, criticizing what he called the “vicious rumors about my involvement in Stephen Smith’s tragic death.”
There are two other deaths that documentaries and true-crime podcasts have linked to the Murdaugh family.
Mallory Beach, 19, died after Paul Murdaugh — while allegedly drunk — crashed a boat into a bridge in 2019, throwing Beach and the others on board from the vessel.
Gloria Satterfield, who helped keep up the Murdaugh home for two decades, died in 2018 after allegedly tripping over the Murdaughs’ dogs and falling on stairs. Satterfield’s death is one of the cases in which Murdaugh has now admitted financial wrongdoing, because he bilked Satterfield’s family out of money from the death settlement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
