Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #16 - What Happened To The Money? Part One

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, Wednesdays. And stream Murdoch, Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Terms apply. I don't know where all of Alec Murdoch's money went, but a South Carolina judge just made a promising ruling that should lead to answers in this deepening mystery. My name is Mandy Matney, and I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two and a half years now. And this is the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast. On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Hall ordered an injunction to freeze Alec Murdoch's assets and appointed receivers to manage and recover funds this. could pay alleged victims currently suing the Murdox. And that is a big deal. But to understand how big of a deal this is, we need to go back a couple weeks and explain

Starting point is 00:01:23 how this ruling happened. Let's go back to Friday, October 22nd, just three days after Alec Murdoch was denied Bonn. Eric Blaine called me early in the morning. The audio here is imperfect. As I said before, I'm always a journalist before I'm a podcaster. And in this moment, I was more concerned about breaking the story than I was about getting perfect audio. You'll also hear from our sweet dog Luna, who tends to get excited when Eric Vland calls. Friday bombshell, we are filing. Mark Tensley is filing, and Joe McCullough is filing,

Starting point is 00:01:56 all three of us, the same motion to have a receiver appointed for Alex Burdock and all of his assets and everything. And it's going to be John T. Lay, who is a significant defensive term. in this state. The bombshell motion is saying essentially that he's already shown that he's dissipating assets. Receiver has extremely broad powers. To give you an example, Peter Prodipopis has been appointed by Justice Tolm. She sits over all the asbestos cases in the state. And essentially, the receiver goes out of fund of victims and must. Same kind of thing that Retile is going to be an officer either under document. Badey or an appointed judge, and he essentially has the broad walk in any business bank with an order and say hand over everything you got.

Starting point is 00:03:07 And so Mark Tensley's motion has already filed in his case, so you can look at it, but this is essentially going to lock Alex to the point if you won't even be able to buy a cup of coffee. That's quote. And anybody in this family, it'll avoid the power of the attorney. This guy will go after the money at Bank of America. He will unwind every single transaction that Alex has done since 2015. When he opened the Bank of American account, he'll go to people who have money and say, you have to disgorge that money.

Starting point is 00:03:45 And more importantly, he's going to trace, and I want you to listen to this, Dick Harputlian and Jim Griffin's fees. Dick Arputtleyan and Jim Griffin, who are currently representing Alec in multiple criminal cases, were hired to defend Paul Murdoch and the boat crash criminal case in either March or April 2019, which would be soon after Alec Murdoch transferred a large amount of settlement money to his own account, according to prosecutors. Bland said that the receivers will be able to find out whether or not Griffin and Harputtland were paid in fees from the Satterfield settlement.

Starting point is 00:04:23 Basically, the receivers should be able to find out where all of Alex's money is gone since he opened the Forge account in 2015. We have one of the paper statutes in the country. Okay. And I'm telling you, Alice will not be able to buy a cup of coffee. And Dick Harpooning and Jim

Starting point is 00:04:52 Griffin from Alex either before or now. What the receiver does is he goes out and cures and marshal and it goes into a fund and then the court decides on the victims who gets it. Alice is going to absolutely

Starting point is 00:05:21 in his jail cell when he hears this, he knows the, because he's a lawyer, he knows what is coming. There's no stop in the receiver. There's no stop in. They absolutely follow the money. He literally comes in and takes over

Starting point is 00:05:43 a failed entity or a failed person with tons of money and tons of creditors. He becomes a legitimate, he's like a, he's a combination of a, of a judge you can imagine.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Education. Got it. So keeping up with all the lawsuits against Elyke Murdoch is super tricky. And I want to do a quick recap because Eric Bland, Joe McCullough, and Mark Tensley all filed motions to freeze Elex's assets. So the first lawsuit was Mark Tensley's lawsuit. Mark Tensley has been in this fight against the Murdox for more than two and a half years. He filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Murdoch, Buster Murdoch, and other.

Starting point is 00:06:40 on behalf of Mallory Beach's mother in March 2015. And for a recap, in February 2019, a highly intoxicated Paul Murdoch, who was 19 years old at the time, was allegedly driving his father's boat when 19-year-old Mallory Beach was killed in a horrific crash near Paris Island, South Carolina.

Starting point is 00:07:00 At the time of Paul Murdoch's death, in June 2021, he faced three felony boating under the influence charges for that crash. While Paul Murdoch was charged in that crash, He was never named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. The lawsuit instead seeks damages from Parker's 55 gas station where the underage Paul Murdoch allegedly purchased alcohol prior to the crash as well as Murdoch's brother and father who facilitated his drinking, according to the lawsuit.

Starting point is 00:07:28 Paul's grandfather, Randolph Murdoch III, who died just days after Paul and Maggie's murders, was originally a defendant in the suit and then later dropped from the lawsuit in 2019. Randolph's estate, as well as other parties such as the Woods family that hosted an oyster roast that evening and losers where Paul Murdoch took two shots before crashing the boat, apparently settled in the case, while Alec Murdoch, Buster Murdoch, and Parkers have refused to settle. For years, the Beech's lawsuit was the only ongoing civil action against Elyke Murdoch until September 2021, and now the disgraced lawyer faces a flurry of lawsuits. The second lawsuit against Alec Murdoch was filed on September 15th by attorney Eric Blan and his partner Ronald Richter on behalf of Gloria Satterfield's sons. That lawsuit alleges that Ehrlich Murdoch inspired with his attorney friend Corey Fleming and his banker friend, Chad Wessendorf, to steal millions of dollars from her wrongful death settlement. Alec is the only individual in that lawsuit who has not paid back a dime of the settlement money. And the third lawsuit against Ehrlich Murdoch was filed by attorney Joe McCullough, who was representing Connor Cook, one of the four survivors of the 2019 boat crash.

Starting point is 00:08:43 That lawsuit alleges that Ehrlich Murdoch conspired with others, including Corey Fleming, to frame Connor Cook in the boating accident that killed Mallory Beach. There are three other lawsuits that have been filed against Ehrlich Murdoch, and we will get to those later in this episode. But the three that I just mentioned on behalf of the beaches, Connor Cook, and the Satterfields are not. important because all three of these plaintiff attorneys filed motions to freeze Elyx assets. So a week after these motions were filed, Judge Daniel Hall, who was the judge over Mark Tensley's case, held a hearing in Chesterfield County, which is in the northern region of the state. Mark Tensley took center stage of the hearing in front of about a dozen media cameras. He argued that the receivership in this case is necessary for the many victims to get justice.

Starting point is 00:09:38 While Tensley recognized that appointing a receiver is a severe remedy, he argued that the circumstances in this case met the requirements. Alex Murdoch by Dick Carfutley's admissions bill national campaign. He has no one. He has no insurance to defend these lawsuits related to the deaths of these monies. Millions and millions of dollars he's admitted to have sold. He is going to jail. There's no question about it. He is going to. because you know because you're going to your kingfield on national television and say you've stolen and then you any other way. Many of us there on Friday looked around the courtroom and noticed that no one was really there for Alec Murdoch's criminal defense attorney Dick Harpitalian was expected to show up to support his client according to my sources but he was nowhere in sight. While Harpulian and Griffin are his criminal defense attorneys and are not involved at the civil side of Alec Murdoch's

Starting point is 00:10:38 cases, it was telling to me that neither of them showed up on Friday. Perhaps it means that they aren't all in for their client. Also noteworthy, I didn't see a single representative from NP Strategies, the PR firm that has worked on behalf of the Murdoch family. And Buster Murdoch, whose own assets were up for debate, didn't show his face on Friday. Not a single member of the Murdoch family showed up at the Chesterfield County Courthouse on Friday. The only person who was on his side was John Tiller, who represents the only insurance company that has agreed to cover just some of the cost up to $500,000 for the boat crash lawsuit. There is no one to defend Mr. Merrick.

Starting point is 00:11:20 In all due respect to Mr. Tiller, Mr. Tiller was a final lawyer, and I respect him ready. He's been hired by one particular insurance company, and I sincerely doubt that they're going to pay to defend him on these unrelated claims. A receiver can do that. A receiver can make sure. sure that the head is not waste, not lost, not either because the air conditioner is turned off in this time of year when the humidity as such did it cause the damage to the home or because it's going to be lost to tax. The receiver will be able to go in and unwind

Starting point is 00:11:53 either present the statute of Elizabeth or the assignment statute. There's a number of statutes that they can unwind. But it's unnecessary for us to waste all that time and all that money on the backside of all of these secret transactions that Buster Merd is undergoing when we could stop the man. And the receiver would be able to stop that. Several times, Tensi quoted and questioned Dick Hart-Paitland's claims that Alec was a poor man with no assets. But obviously, he's living pretty well for somebody who has no assets. He's got a crisis manager, a very expensive law firm, he's got a number of more. in addition to Mr. Taylor that he's paying for, and he's living pretty good for somebody with

Starting point is 00:12:41 no money and spending a lot of money to not have any. Tensley argued that the Murdox had been making a lot of brow-raising financial moves in recent months, particularly on September 15th, Elyke Murdoch granted his power of attorney to his son Buster Murdoch. He's not going to be able to earn any more money. He's not going to fit it. He's going to jail. And so in this case, this web, Mr. Merrick is going to jail. Not only cannot earn more money from which to pay these creditors. He has no incentive to do so.

Starting point is 00:13:16 And the fear there is, is that he's going to, as the court said, hide the money in parts unknown. And his design to reduce all of his assets to cash and leave the state for parts unknown. That's what they're doing here. We've shown you a copy of the resolution. where the hunting club this green swamp hunt club share were sold I understand that we sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 they have a Greedy white boat and this is a share in 7,000 acres of property along the Savannah River they listed their boat there were a number of farm implements and

Starting point is 00:13:59 large tractors at the Moselle property I understand that Buster Murdoch has sold those for cash. Tensley argued that Buster and Ehrlich Murdoch are purposely liquidating their assets. In court, he brought up Buster's recent Vegas vacation with his uncle John Marvin, who, by the way, documented the trip on his public Instagram. Sources saw both Buster and John Marvin playing roulette and blackjack at the Venetian, just hours after Ehrlich was denied Bond a few weeks ago. And I believe that unless the court steps in,

Starting point is 00:14:32 can take control and allows the appointment of the receiver, that's what there will be at the end of the day. Dick Carpookelyan's prediction that he's got no money will be the truth at the end of the day. They've got money right now, Your Honor. They couldn't do this. They couldn't pay Jim Griffin $750 an hour and get on television and give interviews.

Starting point is 00:14:53 They couldn't pay a crisis manager if they didn't have money. Those people don't work for free. There's money, they're assets, but we don't know where they are. And we would simply lack of them preserve it. If Mr. Verdick has some claim, some need, something that comes up where he needs money, he can petition if it's an attorney fee, there's some other reason that he needs some money, but he's already made his lawyers a lot of money, not his lawyers, his other lawyers, his criminal order. This is not a burdens of process.

Starting point is 00:15:24 This is a process to do justice. This is a process to protect everyone. Multiple times Tansley mentioned that there are victims out there who don't know that Ehrlich Murdoch stole from them. And he argued that this process will help those victims get their money back. It is a way that we protect the assets. It is a way that we protect all the claimants, including these people who haven't even, may not even know their money stolen. If you enter into a structured settlement that indicates that in 10 years you're going to start getting your payments, You may not even know he stole $89,000 or $750,000 or $65,000 from you.

Starting point is 00:16:06 You don't even know it yet, but it's coming. Finally, Mark Tensley argued that this case is extraordinary and calls for extraordinary measures because ELEC is a different kind of criminal. It is not as simple as Mr. Griffith wants to contend that we can just go and go. this was a gentleman who's a very sophisticated criminal. He stole millions and millions of dollars, admittedly stole millions of dollars and manipulated the system. This is not your average criminal.

Starting point is 00:16:47 And so to suggest that it's just going to be a simple feat to go in there and be able to undo and figure out what all he's done is intellectually dishonest. Tensley mentioned the number of extensive real estate transactions between barrens, T. Bullware, who is an alleged drug smuggler in Murdoch. We're going to get into all of that and the jellyfish gambit, which is related to that, in another episode. There are a number of properties in which the taxes are delinquent, not just this beach house in Hampton and Colleton counties. There are extensive real estate transaction between Mr. Buller, the gentleman who or the family that they have,

Starting point is 00:17:33 satisfied the $970,000 debt to. It is not as simple as Mr. Griffith wants to contend that we can just go and go. This was a gentleman who's a very sophisticated criminal. He stole millions and millions of dollars, admittedly stole millions of dollars and manipulated the system. This is not your average criminal. And so to suggest that it's just going to be a simple fee to go in there and be able to undo and figure out and what all he's done is intellectually dishonest. I would rather, as the representative of one of the claimants against the assets of Mr. Murdoch, receive a portion of those assets

Starting point is 00:18:16 than all of nothing. Following Friday's hearing, two additional lawsuits were filed that afternoon, claiming that Elyck Murdoch had borrowed more than $550,000 from his law partner, John E. Parker, and his brother Randy Murdoch since March 2021. In ELEC's brother's lawsuit, he claimed that he loaned ELEC $75,000 on Thursday, September 2nd, which would be two days before Ehrlich's botched suicide for hire incident, and one day before PMPED, which is the law firm, started by his family,

Starting point is 00:19:01 allegedly confronted ELEC about misappropriated funds. According to Randy's lawsuit, Randy Murdoch, Murdoch paid Ely $15,000 for his rehab stay. However, as Tinsley pointed out, Ehrlich's attorney Dick Harbutleon claimed in court twice that Ehrlich Murdoch's insurance company was paying for his rehab and saying that he was dead broke. So which is it?

Starting point is 00:19:25 Randy Murdoch's lawsuit also claimed that Buster has sold various assets belonging to Elyke Murdoch to pay for other debts owed to Palmetto State Bank and the rehab, including a tractor and road. rotary cutter that Buster Murdoch gave Randy for a $43,000 debt coverage. Soon after Randy filed his lawsuit, John E. Parker, who is a partner at PMPED, filed his own lawsuit. And that claims that he loaned Elek the following amounts that he had not paid back. $150,000 on March 5, 2021, $77,000 on May 18, 2021, and $250,000.

Starting point is 00:20:07 thousand dollars on July 25th, 2021, which would be almost two months after Maggie and Paul were murdered. So that would be $550,000 within five months that Elyke Murdoch allegedly took from friends and family alone. That is a lot of money and considering it's on top of the $3.6 million he allegedly stole from the Satterfield settlement just last year. That is an absurd amount of. of money to go missing so quickly. In a memo filed Monday, attorney Mark Tensley argued that those two lawsuits only support his motion for the court to approve an injunction and receivership. David will read a part of Tensley's memo.

Starting point is 00:20:53 These facts raise questions of where Alex Murdoch spent his additional $550,000, to whom he has given it, for what purposes, and was any benefit received in return. If Alex Murdoch is truly broke, it seems strange that his former law partner and his brother, who likely has some intimate knowledge of Alex Murdoch's assets, would take the time and effort to file a lawsuit against him, Tinsley wrote. Then, just four days after the hearing, Judge Hall posted the news. He ruled against Alec Murdoch and granted Tensley's motion, which means that the court will order a temporary injunction over Murdoch's assets, and he will appoint two receivers who are attorney John T. Lay Jr. and

Starting point is 00:21:48 former U.S. attorney Peter and McCoy Jr. as receivers in the case. This decision gives Lay and McCoy broad powers to not only lock up Elyke Murdoch and his son Buster's assets, but to sue for the recovery of those assets as well. After this decision was made, Eric Bland spoke with me, and he told me that he believes that the judge's ruling following Murdoch's bond hearing two weeks ago shows that the tides are changing in the South Carolina justice system. He's, he, there's a clear message being sent, Mandy, that this justice system that we have here now has had enough of Alex Murdoch. Enough of the games, enough of the, you know, the lawyer machinations that he wants to employ.

Starting point is 00:22:39 They feel like he's clear, the message ever the last two weeks is, one, he's clear in present danger. and obviously a potential flight risk or a danger to himself. So he was jailed without bonds. Two, that he represents a very dangerous man with a pen. And our courts have said, we don't want that to happen anymore. We're not going to let him decide who gets paid and who doesn't get paid, where money goes and where it doesn't go. He's going to have to ask permission from daddy from now on.

Starting point is 00:23:14 I asked Eric Bland just how rare this is that a judge orders a receivership over assets in a civil case. It's usually done after a judgment or through a dissolution of a company. It's more receivers. Receivers are very common, Mandy, for companies that are unwinding or winding down or things like that. Okay. Like an Enron or, you know, something else like that. like that. Very rare for an individual,

Starting point is 00:23:47 very, very rare to apply to an individual. Very rare. But the courts looking at Alex like he's in Enterprise and they've had enough of them. And the courts are sending a signal to him that he should hear loud and clear that I don't think you're going to be able to get

Starting point is 00:24:06 the sweetheart Murdoch deal that you thought you would get by walking into a court. It's not going to happen. Yeah, absolutely. I think he's going to be serving his time underneath the jail app, underneath the courtroom. I mean, he's going to be serving some significant time when all this is over with. Tuesday's ruling raises a big question in the Murdoch murder saga. Now the LA Kmerdoch's assets are locked up.

Starting point is 00:24:35 Will his quote unquote bulldog attorneys and fancy PR team still work for him? Who will fight for him now? now. Eric Blan told me that the receivers will have the power to investigate every financial transaction that Elyke Murdoch was directly or indirectly connected with. Could that mean that we will finally find out if Maggie and Paul had life insurance policies when they were murdered on June 7th? Stay tuned. Stay tuned to the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast for the latest updates. Follow me on Twitter at Mandy Matney. That's M-A-N-D-Y-M-A-T-N-E-Y. and follow me on Instagram at Mandy underscore in underscore Hilton Head for more updates.

Starting point is 00:25:23 There's so much to unpack in this case and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired. If you believe like I do that Mandy is the best in the business and I'm a little biased, visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com and click the support the show link to learn how you can help. Leave a five-star review to offset the haters. Refer an advertiser and get a finder's fee or advertise your company, product or service. We can geotarget across the globe

Starting point is 00:25:50 and find the right audience to suit your needs. Help us get Luna some treats so she doesn't interrupt the show as much. And absolutely subscribe 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

Starting point is 00:26:10 and talk about my vocal fry. The Mardock Martyrs podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my Beyonce, David Moses. Produced by Luna Shark Productions. What's that? That's Luna saying thank you to Wolfgang Bakery and Bluffton, South Carolina, for all of the amazing treats you gave her. Thanks to y'all, Luna has been fully occupied while we worked on this episode, so thank you so much. Stick with us, y'all. We have great episodes in store.

Starting point is 00:26:52 Thank you.

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #16 - What Happened To The Money? Part One

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.