For perhaps the final time, Alex Murdaugh, now in a prison jumpsuit instead of his usual suit, entered a South Carolina courtroom on Monday and was given a 40-year federal prison sentence.
This time, Murdaugh faced punishment in federal court for embezzling from clients and his law firm. The 55-year-old disbarred lawyer is currently serving a life sentence without parole in a state prison for murdering his wife and son.
According to federal agents' report, a prison term between 17 1/2 and just under 22 years was recommended.
The 40-year sentence will serve as additional protection. Alongside the life sentence, Murdaugh admitted guilt and was directed to spend 27 years in prison in state court for financial crimes. The federal sentence will run concurrently with his state prison term, and he is likely to have to complete the entire 40 years if his murder convictions are overturned on appeal.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel stated that he handed Murdaugh a harsher punishment than advised because Murdaugh stole from “the most needy, vulnerable people” such as a client who became a quadriplegic after an accident, a state trooper who was injured on duty, and a trust fund intended for children whose parents died in a crash.
“They entrusted all their problems and hopes to Mr. Murdaugh, and it is these people he mistreated and stole from. It is a difficult series of actions to comprehend,” Gergel remarked.
The 22 federal charges are the last outstanding charges against Murdaugh, who three years ago was a well-established attorney negotiating multimillion-dollar settlements in small Hampton County, where his family members held elected prosecutor positions and operated the area’s leading law firm for almost a century.
Murdaugh will also have to reimburse nearly US$9 million (C$12.2 million).
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Tracy Glantz / The State / Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Prosecutors are seeking a stricter sentence for Murdaugh because FBI agents believe he is withholding information about the US$6 million he stole and whether an as yet unnamed lawyer aided his criminal activities.
Murdaugh’s most significant scheme involved the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. She died in a fall at the family home. Murdaugh promised to support Satterfield’s family, then collaborated with a lawyer friend who pleaded guilty to a plan to embezzle US$4 million in a wrongful death settlement with the family’s insurer.
In total, Murdaugh misappropriated settlement money from or inflated fees and expenses for over two dozen clients. Prosecutors stated that the FBI discovered 11 more victims than the state investigation revealed and that Murdaugh stole nearly US$1.3 million from them.
Once again, at his sentencing on Monday, Murdaugh expressed remorse to his victims, saying he felt “guilt, sorrow, shame, embarrassment, humiliation.”
Similar to his state sentencing, Murdaugh offered to meet with his victims so they can express their thoughts and “more closely examine my sincerity.”
Murdaugh said he doesn't have enough time or words to express how strongly he feels about what he did.
Murdaugh said his addiction to opioids led to his crimes and he's proud to have been clean for 937 days.
Gergel expressed disbelief at Murdaugh blaming drugs.
The judge said a truly impaired person couldn't have carried out the complex transactions involved in the thefts over 20 years.
Murdaugh was convicted a year ago of killing his son Paul with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, with a rifle. While he has pleaded guilty to numerous financial crimes, he strongly denies being responsible for their deaths and testified in his own defense. There will be years of appeals in the murder cases.
The case has fascinated true crime fans, creating many podcast episodes and social media posts. It continued its strange twists in the days before Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Lawyers for Murdaugh stated that an FBI agent who conducted a polygraph test asked Murdaugh if he could keep a secret, then revealed he had just examined notorious Dutch killer Joran van der Sloot.
Murdaugh failed that polygraph test, according to prosecutors who want a harsher sentence. Each of the 22 counts Murdaugh pleaded guilty to in federal court carried a minimum of 20 years in prison. Some carry a 30-year maximum.
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The Associated Press
The defense said the alleged odd behavior and unusual questions from a FBI agent caused Murdaugh to fail the test.
Prosecutors want to keep many of the FBI statements secret, saying they are still investigating the missing money and who might have helped Murdaugh to steal it. They say making the information public would jeopardize an ongoing grand jury investigation.
