‘All his victims deserve justice’: Prosecutors vow to pursue fraud charges against lawyer convicted of family murders

It was the case that transfixed America for the past six weeks, a sordid tale of scandal, murder and endless lies.

But the trials of Alex Murdaugh are far from over as the disgraced US lawyer is set to be tried over a staggering 99 additional crimes.

Prosecutors from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said they intended to move forward with the separate charges even after Murdaugh was jailed for life for a double murder without a chance of parole on Friday.

Robert Kittle, the communications director for the attorney general, said: “Those crimes have victims as well, and those victims deserve justice.”

If convicted on all counts, Murdaugh faces an additional 731 years in jail.

© Grace Beahm Alford/AP/Shutterstock

On Thursday a jury took less than three hours to convict the 52-year-old of shooting dead his late wife Maggie, 52, and his son Paul, 22, at the hunting lodge of their £3.2 million country estate.

The multi-millionaire scion of a legal dynasty that has been among the most powerful in the region for 110 years is now disbarred and in disgrace.

During sentencing, Judge Clifton Newman called Murdaugh’s conduct “heinous” and one of the “most troubling” cases he had seen in 22 years on the bench. The judge accused Murdaugh of “duplicitous conduct” and said that he continued to lie in court, asking him: “When will it end?”

In an unfortunate twist for Murdaugh – whose name is pronounced “Murdock” rather than “Murder” – Newman will be presiding over the next stage of his case: the alleged financial misdealing.

Prosecutors in the murder case said this was the motive for Murdaugh executing his own family: to distract from the imminent threat of being exposed for looting £7m from his law firm. Murdaugh’s testimony in the trial will prove crucial for his other alleged crimes as he admitted to many of them, telling the jury he did so under the influence of a 60-a-day OxyContin habit which he claimed cost him £8.3m.

He faces 18 counts of computer crimes for which he faces up to 90 years and 32 breach of trust claims which could add on another 320 years.

Then there are forgery matters, and 11 counts of money-laundering which could add on a combined 240 years, and that’s not including the seven counts of false pretences which carry up to 70 years in jail. Murdaugh’s victims were at the lowest point in their lives and he allegedly stole money from the family of a man killed in a car crash and a father of six who lost his wife in an accident.

Another victim is said to have been a highway patrolman injured in the line of duty. Murdaugh allegedly stole a £83,000 payout given to Lieutenant Thomas Moore to pay for spinal surgery following a car crash. Moore had been helping troopers on a snowy day when they were short on manpower and has only got a third of his money back.

There are also charges of conspiracy, false claim for payment and filing a false police report over the bizarre incident three months after he shot his family dead where he allegedly tried to have himself assassinated.

Prosecutors claim Murdaugh’s cousin Curtis Smith bungled the killing which was meant to get Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster, 26, a £8.3m life insurance payout.

Murdaugh is also facing a slew of civil matters including the £3.5m insurance payout he allegedly stole from the family of his housekeeper of 20 years after she slipped and fell to her death in his home. Instead of giving relatives of Gloria Satterfield the payout, Murdaugh is accused of pocketing it and only promising to hand it over after they sued, a case which has not yet been finalised.

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Murdaugh is also facing three personal injury cases from the passengers on the Murdaugh family boat which Paul crashed in 2019, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach, who had been on board. It was this case which supposedly led to Murdaugh’s downfall as three days after he killed his wife and son, a trial was due to start which due to the dogged work of a lawyer for Ms Beach’s family was set to expose his finances.

In a stinging rebuke to Murdaugh, Newman said: “I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night times when you’re attempting to go to sleep. I’m sure they come and visit you, I’m sure.”

Murdaugh replied: “All day and every night.”

The judge responded: “They will continue to do so and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes.”

Murdaugh will soon be transported to Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia, a maximum security prison, where he will have a two-month evaluation to see what prison would best suit him given the gravity of his crimes.

Meantime, he is expected to appeal and will have to continue fighting the dozens of charges against him. Only then will the public learn the full extent of what Murdaugh himself called the “tangled web” he weaved.