Hours before Alex Murdaugh allegedly brutally murdered his wife and son last June, a former law firm colleague says she confronted him about a slew of missing legal fees.
The stunning revelation came Wednesday by way of Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of Murdaugh’s family law firm PMPED—since rebranded Parker Law Group—in a federal financial trial of an ex-banker with ties to the disgraced scion. While Murdaugh is not criminally charged in the case against Russell Laffitte, he is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank. Prosecutors allege that Laffitte aided Murdaugh in several financial schemes, allowing him to misuse and deposit nearly $2 million that belonged to his clients.
“Laffitte was Murdaugh’s point of contact and really served as Murdaugh’s personal banker,” prosecutor Emily Limehouse said during opening statements on Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
But while the trial is set to focus on Laffitte’s alleged crimes, witnesses are providing new details about Murdaugh’s mindset at the time of a June 7, 2021, double homicide. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the murders that day of his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul.
On the stand Wednesday, Seckinger told jurors that last June, PMPED was worried about Murdaugh potentially hiding money from his legal work after Paul had been charged in connection with a deadly boat crash. The youngest Murdaugh was awaiting trial for boating under the influence for the accident that killed his friend, 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
According to WCBD, Seckinger said Wednesday that on the morning of June 7, 2021, she confronted Murdaugh about missing funds from client disbursements and settlements. But the conversation was cut short once Murdaugh got a call from his brother indicating that their father was in hospice, the witness said.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) says Murdaugh called 911 around 10:07 p.m. that evening, at which time he said he discovered his wife and son near the dog kennels outside their 1,770-acre estate in Colleton County. Prosecutors revealed last month that video evidence shows Murdaugh was with Maggie and Paul at around 8:44 p.m.—despite his insistence he was visiting his father at the time of the murders.
Prosecutors in the murder case have said evidence shows Murdaugh “firing up” his car and leaving at 9:06 p.m. Murdaugh did not call 911 to report the deaths for an hour after that. In the seven-minute 911 call, Murdaugh is heard telling an emergency dispatcher his “wife and child have been shot” and that neither of them are breathing.
“I’ve been up to it now. It’s bad,” Murdaugh said while dogs barked in the background.
Murdaugh is set to stand trial on the double homicide in January. He is also facing over 80 charges after allegedly swindling millions from his former clients and PMPED. The former lawyer is also facing a set of charges for allegedly trying to stage his own murder so his only living son, Buster, could inherit his $10 million life insurance policy.
