Murdaugh Murders Podcast - Alex Murdaugh Charged With 21 New Felonies (S01E22)

Episode Date: December 11, 2021

The disgraced South Carolina attorney, Alex Murdaugh, was hit with 21 new felonies from the state Grand Jury. His bond hearing — which was surrounded by skeptism — was postponed and that is a very big deal. In this episode, we discuss each one of the seven new indictments involving Alex’s alleged scheme and his new bond hearing which was mysteriously postponed. Sources have told us they expect to see hundreds of charges against Alex when all is said and done.  Some sources have told us that this case is going to be the biggest case of fraud the state — and maybe even the country — has ever seen. The Murdaugh Murders Podcast is created by Mandy Matney and produced by Luna Shark Productions. Our Executive Editor is Liz Farrell. Advertising is curated by the talented team at AdLarge Media.. Find us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/MurdaughPod/ https://www.instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ In 2022 we plan to commission up to 5 different stories for deep-dive investigations. We're seeking investigators, journalists, arm-chair detectives and others to tell a story they've always wanted to share in order to expose the truth wherever it leads. Cold cases, active investigations, crimes and corruption is our aim and we want to help you blow the lid off of the next big story. We fund your project, you tell the story - we just help you along. Visit MurdaughMurdersPodcast.com/truth for more details. And a special thank you to our sponsors: the Bannon Law Group, Lauren Taylor Law, Ross & Pines, Nature's Highway CBD, Midwood Smokehouse and others. For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don't know how many crimes Alec Murdoch will be charged with, but this week the disgraced South Carolina attorney was hit with 21 new felony charges, and his bond hearing, which was surrounded by skepticism, was postponed. And that is a very big deal. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for almost three years now. This is a special breaking episode of the Murdoch Murders podcast with Liz Farrell and David Moses.

On the night before Alec Murdoch scheduled bond hearing for the 27 charges he faced in November, the 53-year-old was hit with 21 more charges, bringing his grand total to 53 charges. Alec Murdoch has been behind bars on charges related to the Gloria Satterfield case since October 14. Soon after the South Carolina Attorney General's office announced the seven indictments against Alec Murdoch, we heard from several sources that the bond hearing scheduled for Friday morning was delayed.

There were some shenanigans happening behind the scenes that we believe led to the postponement of Alec Murdoch's bond hearing. And we're going to talk about those shenanigans later in this episode. But first, let's go over those seven indictments against Alec. As of December 9, Alec Murdoch is accused of stealing more than $6.2 million in alleged games that date back to 2016. First a little refresher. In 2015 and 2018, Alec opened two extremely fake business accounts at Bank of America

using the name Forge, which closely resembles the name of a reputable settlement management agency out of Atlanta called Forge Consulting LLC, where, as a quick aside, there seemed to be an awful lot of men with the Roman numeral four after their names. Also fun to note, Alec was apparently good friends with one of the agency's principals. So here's why this is important. Lawyers have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients, which basically means they're obligated to advise their clients on financial decisions that would be in the client's best interest.

Oftentimes, this means helping clients minimize their tax burdens and helping maximize their total takeaway through structured settlement plans that provide annuities. The real Forge Consulting company is a brokerage firm widely used by attorneys to set up settlement plans for their clients. This is not what Alec did. Every one of those seven indictments involves Alec's alleged scheme using his fake Forge accounts. And we will go over those seven indictments.

Indictment number one, the Johnny Bush case. In June 2016, Alec allegedly pretended that $100,000 of Johnny's settlement money was used to pay someone to do quote unquote, accident reconstruction for Johnny's case. Alec apparently took $95,000 of that money by having a check cut from PMPED's client trust fund and then deposited it in his Forge account. He then withdrew some of the money as cash, used some of it to pay his credit card bills and wrote checks to his associates, according to the indictment. Indictment number two, the Jamie and Risher case.

In August 2016, Alec is accused of having a $90,000 check written from PMPED's client trust fund with a description regarding Jamie and Risher, who had received an unknown amount of money because of unspecified injuries. Alec deposited the money in his Forge account and again used the money, the money that was supposed to go to Jamie and to pay his credit card bills, withdraws cash and write checks to himself and his associates. Then unbelievably, three years later, between August and November of 2019, Alec went on a trip to New York and allegedly spent more than $5,000 of Jamie and Settlement money

on his blight and his meals. That is hardcore. Indictment number three, the Randy Drowdy case. In November 2017, Alec is accused of having Randy sign a settlement disbursement form that showed that the firm was withholding almost $9,000 for medical bills and $750 for private investigator services. Instead of using that money for those purposes, Alec allegedly deposited it into his Forge account and used it for personal expenses.

We have to point out that $10,000 is pennies to a lot of lawyers. Murdoch included it, so why would he bother? Indictment number four, the Jordan Jinx case. In August 2018, Murdoch allegedly convinced his longtime family friend, Jordan Jinx, who had come to him for help, that PMPED had to keep $85,000 of Jordan Settlement money to pay for a medical insurance lien. What did Alec do with this money? You guessed it.

He paid his credit card bills, got some cash, and wrote checks to his associates. I'm not done. Then two months later, Alec allegedly did it again, but this time he told Jordan the medical insurance lien was for $65,000. Let's be clear here. If someone believes they have the medical insurance lien for $150,000, that means they were significantly injured. I'm not done.

Alec is also accused of forging Jordan's signature on a disbursement sheet, which is a document on which a client acknowledges and proves the money he is receiving from his settlement. I'll say it again, Alec supposedly did this to a longtime family friend. Indictment number five, the Blondel Gary estate case. In April 2019, the same month his son was charged with three felony boating under the influence charges in Buford County, Alec is accused of gaining the trust of the personal representative of the Blondel Gary estate and taking $112,500 of the estate's money

from the client trust fund. He allegedly deposited this money into his forge account and used it to pay family members, pay his credit card bills, withdraw as cash, and write checks to his associates. Indictment number six, the Christopher Anderson case. Between February and July 2020, a full year after Alec and his family have been in the press, Christopher came to Alec for help. Christopher had been heard on the job and was supposed to receive a $750,000 check for his injuries.

Alec allegedly stole the entire $750,000 from Christopher and told him that the money was being held in an annuity account for structured settlements. Reminder, this means that the $750,000 was supposed to go to the real forge where it would have been used to purchase an insurance policy that would have earned Christopher interest over time. According to the indictment, Alec apparently used Christopher's money to make loan payments, spend his cash, and write checks to his associates. Indictment number seven, the Sandra Taylor case.

Between November and December 2020, when the Murdoch family was already in the local media limelight, Alec allegedly convinced a person representing Sandra's estate that Sandra's wrongful death case wasn't worth more than 30 grand. Alec allegedly told this person that because it was so low, he wasn't going to even take his usual fee. So nice of him. But really, Alec got more than $180,000 for Sandra's estate and allegedly took more than $150,000 for himself and spent it on credit card payments, payments to family members,

and checks written to his associates. We don't know who those associates are, but we will find out. And we'll be right back. Reading each of the 12 indictments against Alec Murdoch is really difficult. Even though they're not all that detailed, it's easy to see how much pain Alec's greed has allegedly caused people. And not just people. These were his friends and his neighbors.

Over and over, they used the phrase, came to Alec Murdoch for help, which is heartbreaking when you really think about it. These were people who trusted him. The Murdoch name, the Murdoch legacy, meant something to them. These were people who needed him. They had been wronged, hurt physically, hurt emotionally. They were in dire straits with expenses. They had large medical bills to pay.

Some were likely out of work and he lied to them, allegedly, and took their money, allegedly, and then lied to them some more, allegedly. These indictments show how low Alec was allegedly willing to go. But why? And where did the money go? Liz and I have spent a lot of time pouring over these indictments and we want to share with you what we've learned. Takeaway number one.

A lot of people are missing a lot of money. If it wasn't cleared us already, it sure is now. This case is an absolute monster. It is complicated and unruly. And Alec apparently had a type. The victims listed in the indictments so far have had a lot in common. They trusted the Murdoch name. They trusted Alec in particular.

They went to him for help in getting settlements for their accidents, their injuries, and in their wrongful death claims. And they don't appear to have alerted law enforcement when they didn't get their money. Why is that? One reason could simply be that Alec lied to them, which he apparently did a lot according to these indictments. Maybe they asked him about the money and maybe he put them off. And maybe they believed him.

Another reason might be that many of these people probably didn't know they had been stolen from yet. Maybe they weren't due to receive any part of their annuity prior to these investigations. Yet another reason, though, could be that they were afraid of questioning a member of the Murdoch family. Campton County residents especially have told us that questioning a Murdoch or double-crossing them by telling on them never works out well. Not only was Alec a well-known lawyer from a prestigious law firm and a member of a prominent

family, Alec was a law enforcement officer. He was a badge-carrying member of the solicitor's office, which is South Carolina's version of the district attorney's office. Again, these people trusted what Alec told them. They trusted that he was looking out for them. According to these indictments, he was not looking out for them. From what we're hearing, more indictments are coming. And they could be coming for quite some time.

Prosecutors with the state attorney general's office appear to be presenting their cases in batches, so as not to overwhelm the state grand jury. Some sources have told us they expect to see hundreds of charges against Alec when all is said and done. Some sources have told us that this case is going to be the biggest case of fraud the state and maybe even the country has ever seen. Takeaway number two, Alec clearly does have an addiction. His attorneys Dick and Jim want us to believe that he's an addict with a $10 million drug

habit. There has been a lot of debate about the extent of Alec's apparent drug addiction. According to our sources, he really did have a substance abuse problem, but we have yet to hear anything that points to an addiction like the ones Alec's attorneys have been describing. At this point, we have to ask, was Alec maybe addicted to stealing? The man described in the 12 indictments so far seemed to be someone who was open to stealing any amount of money from just about anyone using any cover.

In fact, it's starting to look like Alec did more stealing than litigating and no one was safe from a scheme. He allegedly tricked his best friend, Buford attorney Corey Fleming, into helping him steal from the heirs of the woman who helped raise his children. He allegedly tricked a longtime friend and college roommate, who is Bamberg County attorney Chris Wilson, into bypassing PMPED's internal financial process and paying Alec directly for his half of attorney fees. The current indictments say that he stole from another longtime family friend and forged

his name. Is it possible that Alec liked the feeling of taking money from other people? Is it possible that he was addicted to the feeling of getting away with something? Takeaway number three. Something else has to be going on here. So far, Alec is accused of stealing $6.2 million and as we've said, sources have indicated that we are nowhere near the end of this. We're starting to learn how Alec was able to allegedly steal the money, but we haven't

seen any logical explanation as to why he was allegedly stealing it. The question has to be asked. Is there a bigger picture crime here? There has been a lot of speculation online about Alec's friendship with an alleged low-country drug smuggler who died a few years ago. This has not revealed any definitive or direct evidence that Alec has been involved in any kind of drug trafficking. But let's maybe take a look at one interesting aspect of smuggling.

The Low Country has a lot of history with drug trafficking. According to the book, Jackpot, High Times, High Seas, and the Sting that launched the War on Drugs by Jason Ryan, which is a really interesting read about a massive drug bust here involving a group called the Gentlemen Smugglers, drug trafficking requires a significant investment on the part of kingpins. They have to have money to buy the drugs, and infrastructure like boats and planes to smuggle the drugs, and they have to pay people to transport the drugs. Apparently, back in the day of the gentlemen smugglers, they used investors to fund their

drug runs. Again, just to be clear, we're not saying Alec is a drug smuggler, but it does become more and more concerning as to why he was allegedly stealing and what he was doing with the money. Only credit card bills and quote-unquote checks to associates were available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Alec's reputation among some attorneys in the Low Country was that he was lazy and not looking to work too hard on his cases.

Is it possible that he wasn't making the money needed to support his and his family's lifestyles? Despite the national media portraying the Murdochs as this fur coat and tuxedo-wearing family with a high-priced lifestyle, the Murdochs really weren't all that extravagant according to those who know them. Sure, they flew private, but we're told they used one of the law partners' jets and basically paid for the gas and the pilot and whatever other expenses come with the flight. All told, their flights weren't that much more expensive than commercial tickets, apparently.

And yes, they set courtside at basketball games, but those were college games. It's not like they were hanging out with Jack Nicholson and watching the Lakers. According to people who know them, the Murdochs like to throw parties and were the kind of friends that paid for everything when you were around them. They really were known as generous people, by the way. But this isn't a family where you're going to hear about champagne fountains and buckets of caviar. I'm not an economics professor, but I'm pretty sure that barn parties don't cost

6.2 million dollars no matter how much Miller Lite your friends like to drink. There has been some, I'll call it informed speculation, among sources who know Alec that he was perhaps being blackmailed and using the money to pay people for their silence. Right now, we just don't know. A few weeks ago, Alec Murdoch's attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition in the South Carolina Supreme Court to challenge Judge Newman's ruling that was keeping Alec behind bars. To several of my sources, this move was a clear indication that Alec was desperate to get

out of jail. And now we know why. Alec knows how many clients he allegedly wronged. Or he should know. He likely knew that as soon as investigators opened the Pandora's box of the forge accounts, he'd be toast no matter how much he was paying his bulldog attorneys. Who knows where Alec Murdoch would be if Newman granted his bond in October. Alec is a textbook example of a flight risk.

He's likely got a lot of cash somewhere, and he's got the connections and the funds to hop on a plane and disappear. Newman ruled Alec as a danger to himself and society, and the more that we find out about Alec Murdoch, we get why Newman made that call. Takeaway number five. How many people knew that this was happening and did nothing? As we learn more and more about Alec's forge scheme and all of the clients who were allegedly wronged, it's clear that Alec was in the middle of a criminal operation of some sort.

It's highly unlikely that he came up with this scheme and pursued it all by himself. Alec has been described to us by dozens of sources who knew him. And maybe this is mean, but none of them have ever accused him of being a genius. Quite the opposite, in fact. We've heard he was a schmoozer, we've heard he was charismatic, we've heard he was fun at parties, but we've also heard that he was sloppy. So we don't think he could have done this alone. Not for long.

Not with this many people involved. So were there others? Those associates, perhaps? Did family patriarch and former solicitor Randolph Murdoch know about this? Randolph worked with Alec both at the solicitor's office and PMPD. He was widely respected among law enforcement agencies and attorneys across the state. And they aren't going to be happy with us for asking this question. But it has to be asked.

If Randolph was as great of an attorney as everyone says he was, wouldn't he have known his own son was allegedly stealing from clients and using the prestige of their family's law firm to do so? And what about PMPD? What did they know about Alec's financial irregularities? And when did they know it? And if they didn't know, how in the heck did they miss it? Our sources have told us there are potential charges coming for cases that are much older

than the ones we've seen so far. So this didn't raise any red flags for anyone? At this point, there are three options in our opinion. Either they were actively complicit, lending him help from the inside, or they were willfully ignorant and never bothered asking too many questions, or they were straight up irresponsible. No matter how you look at it, PMPD had a duty to protect their clients. And well, here we are. Which leads us to perhaps the most important question of all.

What did Maggie know before she died? What did Paul know? And what does Buster know? Alec Murdoch allegedly kept stealing when he knew people were watching. Three of the seven recent indictments were based on crimes that took place after the fatal boat crash in 2019 that killed Mallory Beach. In 2019, Alec Murdoch was well aware that local reporters were watching the Murdoch family closely.

Alec knew that the public suspected corruption in that case because of the Murdoch's involvement and influence. And make no mistake, the Beach case was a big local story at the time in 2019. Most of the low country was watching that case, very closely. And looking back, I first wrote about the sketchy Gloria Satterfield Settlement in late 2019 when we didn't know the half of it and it appears that this did nothing to change Alec's behavior. This tells us a lot about Alec's character and confidence in the system that surrounded

him. He really believed that he would never get caught. He underestimated local media. He underestimated local law enforcement. And he underestimated the victims who he allegedly stole so much from. The Bulldog attorneys might be good old boys, but neither are very good boys. In fact, they're in the doghouse. After news of the indictments broke on Thursday evening, Alec's less fancy attorney Jim Griffin

spoke to the Island Packet newspaper and appeared completely blindsided by the recent charges against his client. Here is what Griffin said. The fact of the matter is, we just learned of the charges. We have not had the chance to review the charges and we are trying to get a bond hearing scheduled on these charges along with the original state grand jury charges. Oh, have times changed. If you'll remember the first time Alec was charged in that alleged suicide for hire scheme,

it appeared like his attorneys called all the shots. In September, Dick conveniently announced in a TV interview that Alec would be turning himself into Hampton County jail the next day and his bond hearing held in his home court of Hampton County appeared to go completely according to the Bulldog's plan. Now it appears like Alec Murdoch is being treated like every other accused criminal. And that is a treat. A treat for South Carolina. No treats for the Bulldogs.

Which leads us to our next point. What was up with Alec's bond hearing this week? Something seemed off about this from the beginning. On December 6th, a day before it was announced publicly, multiple sources close to the investigation told us that Alec Murdoch's bond hearing was scheduled for Friday and that a different judge, not the judge who had been assigned to all of the Murdoch cases, would preside. This immediately set off alarm bells to those of us on the lookout for signs of favoritism or other corruptions in this case.

So what we were told is that Judge Allison Lee, who presides over the state grand jury, would now be setting his bond on the 27 counts he was charged with in November. The Supreme Court Chief Justice issued an order assigning Judge Lee to the case. And it felt like a switcheroo. The order basically said… So actually, we know back in September that we said Judge Clifton Newman would be presiding over all criminal matters related to Alec Murdoch. But we just realized that the state law says that bail for state grand jury defendants

must be set by the current judge over the state grand jury, who happens to be a judge known for releasing violent criminals. But this is normal. So yeah, we're gonna do that now. So lots of red flags here. We understand that the law backs this up. But why, when they already handpicked Judge Newman to preside over all criminal matters related to Alec Murdoch, did they not stop and think, hum, the state grand jury is likely

going to be involved in this? Shouldn't we address that in this order? And the court just so happened to issue this new order at a time when Dick and Jim appear to be very desperate to get Alec Murdoch out of jail. They didn't get their way with Newman during the October bond hearing. And after submitting a writ of habeas corpus to the Supreme Court to basically overrule Newman when Newman went at budge, they're not stupid. They know there are going to be waves and waves of new charges coming from the state

grand jury. They know that their hope of getting Alec Murdoch out of jail is getting a new judge on the case immediately. And then suddenly an order is filed a week before Alec's bond hearing that gives ambiguous power to a judge who is known for releasing violent criminals. And again, we're told this is totally normal. Come on. And then there was a problem with how much power Lee actually would have at the bond

hearing. We were told that it was possible that the South Carolina Supreme Court would issue another order this week, giving Lee total power over the bond hearing and the ability to overrule Newman's decision to keep Alec Murdoch in jail. But this presented a lose-lose situation for the justice system. If Newman was chosen as the best of the best, the judge, they trusted to be fair in this case that has flipped the South Carolina justice system upside down, was overruled by this other judge who suspiciously entered the picture recently.

The whole system would have looked bad. And then there was the secrecy with Alec Murdoch's hearing. Bitt's News called and called and emailed Judge Lee's office this week to ensure press access to the bond hearing, and they wouldn't respond. We were told that they didn't respond to any press requests this week. We actually had to send a letter to the South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon asking them to issue a formal order allowing press access. And that is how broken our system is.

It forces us to question everything. We suspected that Alec's bond hearing was postponed on Thursday evening for reasons besides Alec's charges. But who knows? On Monday at Alec's rescheduled bond hearing, we will be watching for more shenanigans. So stay tuned. This week marks the 24th anniversary of my brother Michael's death. Michael was my only sibling, my first friend, my partner in childhood, and his death rocked

my entire world. He died on December 11th, 1997. I was 7, he was 9. And as his only sibling, I feel duty bound to keep his memory alive and ensure the world that he has not forgotten. Michael was witty, fearless, talented, brilliant, and gracious. I always felt like Michael was the better sibling. He was smarter than me, more athletic than me, and far more charismatic.

I was an incredibly shy kid and my mom would always say that Michael spoke for me when I was too scared. Michael was a light of so many lives. 24 years later, I still miss him every day. But I consider that to be a good thing. After all of these years of grieving him, I'm still finding purpose for all of the pain. While there is nothing I wouldn't give to give my brother back, his death may be a better human being, that's for sure.

It left me with a constant need to live a fulfilling and fearless life, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It gave me the courage to pursue stories like this one, knowing that I've already survived the unimaginable. I know that so many of y'all are grieving loved ones, especially around the holiday season. And I want you to know that you are not alone, and that it's okay to not be okay. And it's okay to feel an immense amount of sadness after losing someone you love, even decades later.

And if you're not grieving a loved one this holiday season, I encourage you to lift others up who are, ask them how they're really doing, talk to them and really listen to what they're saying. Tonight, hold your loved ones tight, tell your brother that you love him, call your mom, forgive your sister. If I've learned anything from my brother's death and this story, it's that life is really, really short and everything can change in an instant. That's the message that I think Michael would want me to share this holiday season.

Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for listening. Stay strong and stay tuned. Help us get Luna some treats so she doesn't interrupt the show as much. And absolutely subscribe to fitsnews.com. Mandy and Will are revolutionizing journalism, and your subscriptions are invaluable to that mission. Plus, you get awesome content every day.

And don't forget to leave a five-star review, unless you're going to be nasty and talk about my vocal fry. The Marduk Murders podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Produced by Luna Shuck Productions.