Murdaugh Murders Podcast - 'Rich People Problems': The Victimization of Russell Laffitte (S01E62)

Episode Date: September 21, 2022

Russell Laffitte and his wife, Susie, gave an epically tone-deaf performance in an effort to get one of his two ankle monitors removed earlier this month. Mandy and Liz take a hard look at a recently released transcript of what went down in federal court on Sept. 6. What should have been a run-of-the-mill hearing, was anything but as Russell and Susie tried to convince a judge that he too is a victim of Alex Murdaugh.  We also hear a powerful response from Alania Plyler and stay tuned for more detailed legal analysis from Eric Bland this Friday on our new Cup of Justice Bonus Episode. SUNscribe to our free email list to get alerts on bonus episodes, calls to action, new shows and updates. AND by sharing your email, we'll send details on exclusive content only available from our upcoming SUNScription platform - CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3KBMJcP And a special thank you to our sponsors: Microdose.com, VOURI, Cerebral, Aura Frames and others. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! Find us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/MurdaughPod/ https://www.instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ Twitter.com/mandymatney YouTube 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

Ugh, another pointless video call where nothing gets done. I think you're on mute, David. Uh, sorry. What did I miss? IT just approved Miro for the whole company. Miro? That's the... Online whiteboard.

For team collaboration. We can make these long video meetings so much shorter with Miro boards. We can share ideas, feedback, and updates on them whenever. Actually see what we're talking about? It's all online. Miro will make our flexible work set up so much easier. With one virtual space for our brainstorms, projects, presentations. Oh, that sounds kind of amazing.

So I don't need to wake up for 6am calls with the London office anymore. Now you're getting it. Don't let time zones get in the way of your team working well together. See why 99% of the Fortune 100 trust Miro to get good work done. From anywhere. Get your first 3 boards free at Miro.com. That's M-I-R-O.com. I don't know why Elik Murdoch has so much power over Russell Lafitte and Palmetto State

Bank. But I do believe that they are not the victims in this. No matter how many times they claim to have been tricked by Elik Murdoch, I will not let Russell or the bank try to claim a spot next to the actual victims here. The very people they betrayed by allowing Elik to call the shots. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than 3 and a half years now. This is the Murdoch Murders Podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell.

First things first, we want to make it abundantly clear that we sever ties with Fitznews. Those of you who follow us on social media can see our full statement about that. And moving on to better things, it is almost officially fall. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're less than one month away from our wedding day. Shout out to our unbelievable wedding planner, Kelly Corn, who has taken so many responsibilities off of our shoulders so we can focus on our work here. I'm literally the worst when it comes to planning things, so I really have to thank

my sweet fiance David and Kelly for working so hard to get everything in order for a big day. And man, there is still a lot of work to be done. We're also excited to announce that we have another special bonus episode for y'all this Friday. Eric Bland will be serving a hot cup of justice to start your weekend on the right foot. We are so happy the first bonus episode was a huge success and we want to continue the momentum of educating the public on the law so that none of us get taken advantage of.

They tuned Friday for our second cup of justice bonus episode on the MMP feed and speaking of our legal system and the power of podcasts. This week, after 23 years in prison, Adnan Syed, a Baltimore man whose story was heard around the world thanks to the hit podcast Serial, is now a free man. This is a huge moment for so many journalists like Liz and I out there. I've said this before, but Serial changed so many lives, ours included, and carved a path for true crime storytelling that none of us knew was possible. If it wasn't for Serial, we probably wouldn't be doing this podcast right now.

You know, I've seen Serial's host Sarah Keenig get a lot of heat online for her storytelling and journalism methods, particularly about not correcting some issues in her initial reporting. But when it comes down to it, what she did with Serial, how she made the story about a reporter's journey and how murder investigations really work, she made Adnan's story impossible to ignore. Say what you will about Sarah Keenig, but her work, combined with the work from the Undisclosed podcast, was ultimately effective.

It captured worldwide attention to not just this crime, but other wrongful convictions. It changed storytelling, and eventually, years later, it helped free Adnan, and that is a big deal. We hope that the news about Adnan, combined with the results that we're seeing from our podcast, encourages journalists around the world to pursue stories like Adnan's that no one is looking at, and encourages them to shine a light until justice is served. So a few weeks ago, we told y'all about Russell Lafitte's federal hearing on September 6th.

Because the hearing was held in Charleston on a Tuesday, and Tuesdays are always crazy for us because we have Wednesday podcast deadlines, neither Liz nor I could go to Russell's bond modification hearing. Which by the way, are typically uneventful and short. But surprise! Like everything in this story that is supposed to be procedural and boring, turns out the hearing was the exact opposite. Last week, a 127 page transcript from Russell Lafitte's September 6th federal court hearing

was made available to the public. And let me tell you, it is mind blowing. And of course, there is a lot to unpack. Liz and I have spent the past week poring over every page, several times, and talking about all of the new pieces of information. So much happened that did not get covered by mainstream media at the time. Part of this is because federal court prohibits recording, so reporters have to take note by hand.

It is really easy to miss things. And another reason is reporters who work for corporate newspapers and news stations are on tight daily deadlines, and typically aren't given the opportunity to take deeper dives into stories like this. But that is what we're here for. In this episode, we're going to tackle the biggest revelations from this hearing. And there's a lot to talk about. For our bonus episode with Eric Bland this week, we're going to talk about the legal

strategy here, because it's really interesting. There has been a lot of chatter recently about why Russell's attorneys would ever choose to put him on the stand for a pre-trial motion, and why they would allow Russell's wife to speak during the hearing. After reading the transcripts, we can see what people are talking about. I'm really excited to share that episode with y'all later this week. So this transcript has given us an even better picture of what was happening with Eric before and after the murders.

It also gives us an insight into the mindset of Hampton County's wealthiest residents and what was going on with Eric, Russell, Palmetto State Bank, and PMPED during the time of these alleged games. Also, it gives us a really good look how Eric was able to allegedly steal millions of dollars and how a culture of corruption was able to thrive in Hampton County. And let me just tell you now, Russell implicates several other people during this hearing. So let's start with a reason for this hearing. Russell is facing 21 charges in state court and 6 charges in federal court.

After having an ankle monitor put on him in May as a condition of bond for the state charges, he had a second ankle monitor put on in July as a condition of bond for the federal charges. That is two ankle monitors, which we've been told is very rare. As we've reported in episode 60, Russell's attorneys in the US Attorney's Office filed memos in the lead up to the September 6th hearing that gave us a lot more information about what Russell is accused of doing. We knew that the hearing would be interesting, but we had no idea it would go in this direction. So the main issue was that Russell wanted to be taken off house arrest and have his federal

ankle monitor removed. His attorneys argued that the court was confusing him with ELIC and punishing him as a result of pre-trial publicity. They also accused the court of getting the wrong idea about Russell based on the quote crazy conditions associated with the state bond. Russell is scheduled to go to trial November 8th of this year on federal charges. This means that the hearing was held to shave off just 8 weeks of Russell having to wear two monitors.

He only had two more months, two months of discomfort to bear, but he apparently couldn't do it. Two months was too long for Russell Lucius Lefitte to be inconvenienced or alter his life in any way as he awaits judgment for his role in ELIC's alleged crimes. After reading over the transcript, it's amazing to us how much entitlement and arrogance emerges from these guys when they are finally being held accountable. Russell is facing 27 charges and dozens of years in state and or federal prison and yet he is trading the removal of an ankle monitor like he was denied the aisle seat on a flight

to Hawaii. He is totally forgetting that jail was an option for him. He could be awaiting his trials in jail. The ankle monitors are actually a privilege. Nevertheless, Russell testified for two and a half hours and afterward his wife, Susie Lefitte, read a long speech in the hopes that the judge would change her mind. The judge ultimately decided to take him off of house arrest, but she wasn't buying the argument that Russell's ankle bracelet should come off.

What's really struck me about all this is how Russell and Susie thought their words would impress the judge in any way. That the judge would hear what they had to say and think they're being treated unfairly. Their words ended up doing the exact opposite. Instead of coming across as humble country folk, which is the look they seem to be going for, they came across as really out of touch. There was no apology, no regret, no acknowledgement that Russell's actions, whether they're criminal or not, have caused a whole lot of hurt for the victims.

Instead, the Lefitte's tried to say that they too are victims here. The whole thing was basically a demand for the court to comply with their wishes. We often point out that, without so-and-so, there is no Alec Murdoch, Russell is one of those people. Without him, Alec could not have stolen a few of the millions he's accused of stealing. But in this transcript, it's clear that there are others, and Russell seemed to have no problem throwing them all under the bus. A major part of our mission is to give voice to the victims, people who's suffering gets

prolonged and amplified because of corruption, incompetence, or both. So for this episode, we spoke with a lady and a pliler. We wanted to get her perspective on Russell's and Susie's courtroom performance. Once again, she had some really smart observations and powerful things to say. So we're going to start with the end of the hearing first, because we think Susie's speech to the judge really sets the tone for the whole hearing. To recreate the speech, because again, there's no recording, we had our friend Maggie Washa read it.

Maggie is the long-time publisher of CH2 magazine on Hilton Head Island, and CB2 magazine that covers the rest of Buford County. The speech was really long, so we picked out the most relevant excerpts. Here's how Susie's speech started. Good morning, Your Honor. All counsel present and ladies and gentlemen of the audience, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to say a few words. Bear with me.

This is not my arena. I prefer kindergarten, third graders, and anything below sixth graders. And this is certainly not on my bucket list. However, I feel it is necessary that I share with you today. First of all, I want to express sympathy to each and every victim that has been taken advantage of by Alec Murdoch. My family and I understand how it feels to be victimized by someone you trusted, and we sympathize with each of those victims.

We asked Elena Plyler, a real victim, who has been dragged into this mess through no fault of her own about how she felt when she read the statement from Susie. That word sympathy has always gotten me like, don't feel sorry for me. And not in that aspect. Like your your husband did what he did. And I feel like he needs to take responsibility for his actions. And Susie asked his wife needs to take responsibility of her husband's actions to say, hey, he's not as perfect as I thought he was going to be.

Like people do make mistakes. Honestly, through this, and this is totally my opinion, reading this transcript of Susie, I don't think she knows her husband as well as she thought she did. It's very bland and it's very like there's really nothing really personable in it. So reading about that, she sympathizes with them. But it's really that next line where she talks about that she's off that her family has been victimized and all. That's pretty shameful that you went to that level to begin with, because she has no idea.

She has no idea what it is to be victimized by her husband, Russell. Russell and I have remained quiet throughout this process for several reasons. One, we thought that was the expectation, the way the legal process was supposed to proceed, the appropriate behavior in legal proceedings. Two, we feared that our words would be spun and misrepresented by the media or attorneys. Three, we do not pray of being in the spotlight. We are simply a family striving to live each day with purpose and conscious integrity. Let's check with Elena about being forced into the spotlight.

For instance, when she talks about how her family has been negatively affected and her husband is viewed differently in public now, like that's not our problem. Like there's mounds of evidence that prove otherwise of what she says. And she's saying that, you know, there's misconceptions and that she doesn't believe he's done what he said he's done. I mean, even his attorneys have said that he's guilty of, you know, certain things. So it's like, it's mind boggling. It really is.

And the fact that she thinks that it's not an issue of what her husband has done, like literally taking money out of children's accounts, like that's okay to her. And I just often wonder, like, if the role was reversed, how would she feel? She talks about how her and her husband have raised two children. Like if the role was reversed and it was her son and her daughter whose accounts were manipulated and they had been used as funds for grown men, I wonder how she would feel about it. And I wonder what she would say about that.

But fortunate for her, fortunate for her, her children have never been through anything to be put in a position like that. However, due to multiple media inaccuracies and false statements by plaintiffs' attorneys and how those misconceptions have thus far negatively affected my husband's freedom and our family in general, I feel it is necessary to share some true facts with you all today. My goal today is to share a few facts with you that will make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Russell Lafitte is not a flight risk and in no way is he

a threat to society. Let's pause for some quick background on Russell and Susie. According to the transcript, one of the facts Susie shared with the court after this introduction was to say that she and Russell have been married for 29 years. Russell and Susie were married on February 17th, 2001, according to their wedding announcement in the state newspaper. Their wedding reception was held at Lake Warren Community Center and they honeymooned in Cabo San Lucas.

That was 21 years ago, not 29. It's possible Susie got a little confused by the date. Russell is actually her second husband. In August 1994, 28 years ago, she married a man named Mark Allen Rotenberry of Coldwater, Mississippi, according to their wedding announcement, which also was published in the state newspaper. Russell and Susie have a daughter who was in college and a son who was a senior in high school.

Here's Susie with some misconceptions she says that we have about them. Misconception number one, that we live an extravagant lifestyle. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle, nor do we have access to a mountain of cash. We presently live in a vintage at best double wide trailer on our family farm. We have lived a comfortable life because we work hard. Okay, a couple of things here. One, Hampton County is incredibly poor.

There are plenty of people who would be grateful to be able to afford a double wide trailer. So Susie's flip and comment about being vintage at best is completely tone deaf. Two, her saying we have lived a comfortable life because we work hard. The statement is infuriating because the Lafifee family is extremely powerful and wealthy and has been for generations. Russell's ability to earn six figures is inextricably tied to his birth rate. He was born this way.

He was born into a family of bankers. His upward mobility at the bank was his to lose, which ultimately he did. Susie lives a comfortable life because she married a rich man who has millions of dollars in assets and is expecting to make $230,000 this year alone. According to court documents, despite losing his job, of course, this does not mean that they do not work hard and there is nothing wrong with being rich. But that is a heck of a statement when her husband stands accused of helping a lawyer steal millions of dollars from children in trauma and taking very large

fees for by his own admission, not managing their money. Russell made $60,000 off Hakeem Pinkney, $35,000 off of Arthur Badger, who we didn't even represent, and $15,000 off of Natasha Thomas for doing nothing. Actually, they all had their money stolen, so he really did less than nothing. Next misconception, we tried to hide the sale of our home of 18 years. We did not try to hide the sale of our home. We listed it with a realtor. We are responsible people.

I want you guys to remember this word responsible when we share Russell's testimony, especially as it relates to certain IRS filings. So the Lafitte's five bedroom, six bathroom house was put on the market in April for almost $550,000. It sold for $510,000, according to an online listing. That is high for Hampton County. Also, according to a lien filed by Attorney Justin Bamberg, who represents Natasha Thomas and the Pinkney family, this house was one of six properties

the Lafitte's owned. That said, we do not remember anyone in the media accusing the Lafitte's of hiding the sale of their house. The issue as we remember it was that they put their house up for sale one day before he was indicted by the state grand jury. The timing of that sale was discussed because it was used against him in his state bond hearing as potentially supporting the notion that he could be a flight risk.

According to Russell's testimony in this hearing, the proceeds from that sale are sitting in escrow with Nelson Mullen's law firm. He's not allowed to spend large amount of money or waste any assets per his state bond agreement. So we think that's why it's there. Anyways, apparently Susie thought that was a big deal. She went on to tell the court about the next misconception she claims was made in the media about Russell being on that infamous private jet to the

college world series that Elick and his buddies allegedly took on the Pinkney's dime. We think Susie is confusing media with social media because no one in the media that we know of has ever accused Russell of flying to the college world series with Alex Corey Fleming and Chris Wilson in 2012. She also mentioned that her husband does not have a pilot's license, which we also don't know where this came from. She brought this up as if the entire public hated her husband for that pesky

trip to Nebraska and nothing else. This gives us a really good look of what was actually bothering Susie and Russell in the lead up to the hearing. They are really hung up on what people think of them. And we'll be right back. And still Susie continued with her long list of grievances toward the media, which seems like it would have been more appropriate for a press conference instead of federal court.

But here we are next misconception. We socialize frequently with Alec Murdoch. That is not true. Alec Murdoch was a bank customer. We attended the funerals of Maggie and Paul Murdoch as most members of our community did. Other than that, I do not remember exactly when I last saw Alec Murdoch. My best recollection was several years ago in a local restaurant.

Russell also testified that he is not friends with Alec. So stick a pin in that for a minute when you hear Russell's testimony, because you're going to be like, really? You did all of this for somebody that you're not friends with? Most importantly, Russell Lafitte is not a danger to society. He's not cold or callous. He is kind and caring. He has never once been accused of any act of violence.

He is a hero to his children and many of their friends. We'll let Alaina take this one. He's a hero to his children and many of their friends. OK, that's that's great. Like, I'm glad he's being a dad. That's that's great. But what about the children that he has signed up for to take responsibility of their finances and to grow their money or not even to grow their money

just to protect their money? Just to simply protect it. He's not a hero to those children or who who were children. He's not cold or callous, but yet he's willing to eat lunch on a child's dime without her consent. Me, I like the whole sandwich thing. I still go back to you. That takes a cold hearted person to do that.

Knowing the situation that he was in, why he was in Colombia here to help me and what put us in the position to be able to eat lunch face to face. That alone shows that he's cold and callous. That he had that he took advantage of the situation to buy a seven dollar sandwich and not even have permission or consent to use my money. So if you're willing to do that in front of me, it just goes to show like the roots grow deeper than what we thought. He is the person who anonymously purchases football practice clothing

for the kid who's running laps, holding up his pants because he does not have a belt to keep them up. He is the person that our friends, who is a single mom calls when she is out of town and her car breaks down and she does not have a family close by. He is the boss who drives to Augusta in the middle of the night to support an employee whose son has gotten into a very serious and later fatal car accident. He is the friend that drives to Florida and back in a day to attend his friend's mother-in-law's funeral, not his mother, but mother-in-law.

OK, I'm just going to say it. Does this not seem suspicious to Susie at all? Single moms, Augusta in the middle of the night. Russell drove to Florida and back in a day to attend the funeral of someone's mother-in-law. Obviously, we don't know the depth of Russell's relationships with the mothers of the people his friends married. But everything Susie says here is a red flag given the context. Alec Murdoch borrowed millions from Palmetto State Bank.

He traded it like his own personal piggy bank. He is accused of stealing and laundering millions and no one knows why yet. Oh, also, he was charged with drug trafficking. In the meantime, Russell told the court that he had no idea how Alec was spending his money or how he, how Russell spent the hundreds of thousands he loaned himself from hand-applyler's account. As you'll see in a bit, there's so much that went on at that bank with Russell and Alec. So these midnight out-of-state trips that Susie thinks are so nifty,

I hope someone is looking into them. He is the son-in-law that Granny brings her cell phone to any time she has an issue. And that's pretty often. In fact, he is a gentle giant. So Alayna made a really good point about this. So if I was in his position and all Granny had to say about me, what I helped with the phone, I'm not doing a very good service to Granny. If that's all that you can say I do well at is fixing a phone. I have failed her as her grandson or great-grandson or whoever he may be to Granny.

He is involved in his community and has been. He is respected in his community. He is the dad that delivers tables for the children's school spring fundraiser and hangs out into the wee hours to clean up those tables and return them at the end of the event. He is the booster club member that has been active in booster clubs since his children began sports at a young age. He is the organizer and the manager of the Little League concession stand.

And what some of you that are not familiar with small town life do not realize, that's a four day process for each home game. That means traveling to Savannah with a covered trailer to purchase a plat, preparing, icing down multiple, probably about 10 coolers of drinks, working about 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. for home games, cleaning up and then removing those supplies after the game. As I mentioned, he is a respected member of his community. So respected that he was requested to speak at his daughter's senior classes,

Baccalaureate service. We turned that offer down, but he was requested as one of their top choices. I'm not sure if out of state, all cash sales is a thing for Susie to tout about at a bond modification for her banker husband, who was on house arrest and accused of mishandling millions of dollars. But anyways, he has also been celebrated by bank employees with a surprise birthday party several months after his employment with the bank ended.

Oh, Susie, this is not the flex you think it is. Russell's birthday is in March, a time when Palmetto State Bank was really trying to publicly separate itself from Russell Lafitte and his shenanigans with Alec. In fact, on January 28th, a spokesman for the bank told me that the board of directors fired Russell immediately after information about his involvement came to light in January, which is kind of true. The bank did fire Russell right after the Hakeem story, quote,

came to light publicly. However, it's very clear that the bank knew about Russell's sketchy loans to Alec Murdoch for months before that, and they did nothing. Anyways, Palmetto State Bank has been on a major PR campaign over the last nine months in an effort to tell the public, Hey, we're not all like Russell. We're different. Trust us with your money. It's fine.

Meanwhile, according to Susie, Palmetto State Bank employees were still supporting and praising Russell Lafitte, despite the clear paper trails that showed his involvement with the Pinkney case. That to me shows that he is a respected member of his community. To me, the fact that the bank employees threw Russell Lafitte a birthday party after so much came to light about his involvement with Alec Murdoch's scheme raises a lot of questions about how far and wide this scheme stretched, how many people were still working at the bank, knew about it, did nothing, and

continued to support Russell Lafitte. But as Elena pointed out, several members of Russell's family work at the bank still, so this could have just been a family birthday party. Either way, Russell's birthday party is not at all an indication that he is a respected member of his community. In summary, Russell is a man who has worked tirelessly with a conscious integrity to support his family, serve his community, and give back to his community.

He would never in a million years intentionally put his family's future at risk or his family business at risk. In addition, he would never willingly and intentionally harm another family in any way. He, like so many others, has been taken advantage of and manipulated. I look forward to a trial where his legal team has the opportunity to share his side of this nightmare. Ah, Russell was, quote, taken advantage of and manipulated according to his wife.

Let's see what Elena has to say about that. Honestly, I was. I was searching for some sort of empathy. I know in the readout, it says sympathy. Like, nobody wants their sympathy, but I didn't see anywhere where they felt sorry. It felt like they were trying to make Russell sound to be this great guy as if good deeds will try on what's wrong, you know, and the law doesn't work that

way. It doesn't matter if you're a stand up citizen, which is what she makes them out to be. That's great. But stand up citizens, they, um, they commit crimes too, whether they know it or not. Also, please keep in mind he has never been convicted of a crime. Therefore, he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, that is not the treatment he has received thus far. He is presently wearing two ankle monitors, which we are paying a total of

over $400 a month for the dual monitoring systems. We have made four trips so far to Columbia to service these devices. He spends approximately two hours per day hooked up to two chargers in order to charge his multiple monitoring devices. He has difficulty sleeping at night because he often gets tangled up with all of this equipment. We've received calls at all hours of the night concerning his monitoring system for 20 a.m. 12 57 a.m.

To verify his location when, in fact, we were asleep in the bed with both monitors fully charged. So keep in mind Alaina Plylar is a deputy who is constantly dealing with and helping people in highly stressful situations. Unlike the Lafites, Alaina is very much in tune with very real problems among very real people. So we asked Alaina what she thought of Susie's speech here that was really trying to get sympathy from the public.

So reading about how they got the phone calls at like four, four o'clock in the morning, waking them up when they were asleep in the bed. Those are very rich people problems. Just like Eric said, like, I wish that was all I had to worry about is my ankle monitors waking me up. That just goes to show like they're, it just shows pettiness, really. That's what you're complaining about. Your husband's facing several charges, state and federal charges, and you

guys are up there whining about your ankle monitors going off or his ankle monitors going off and having phone calls. That means that the courts are doing their job and checking it and making sure you are where you say you are. Because I realized that she emphasized that they were both fully charged and they were where they needed to be. Well, that's great. But there's also people on the other end who have a job to do too.

So it's again, if that's all they were worried about was a phone call at four o'clock in the morning, like life is okay. To articulate just how hard this experience has been for Russell, Susie tells the court about the things that her husband has missed out on while on his double ankle monitor house arrest. He's missed out on hunting with his children. Most recently, Russell sat at home last Friday night and missed the first football game of his son's senior year.

Even more disturbing. He was given permission that day by federal counsel to attend. We told our son that his dad was going to be able to attend his game. We were all extremely excited only to be disappointed when we were notified at eight PM on Thursday evening that Russell would not be allowed to attend Luke's game because it was too far from our home. I had to read this a couple of times because I really couldn't believe considering all of the lives lost in this very tragic and horrific saga that

this woman had the gall to talk about her disappointment for her husband missing a high school football game. Now I don't know Susie, but this reads like someone who has never really faced any real disappointment in her entire life. She thinks that she is being relatable, but this is anything but relatable. Think about it. Elena's brother didn't get the chance to play high school football because he died in a horrific car accident.

And she really thinks that people are going to feel bad about Russell missing out on a football game. Come on. We could never get back the memories we've missed at this very crucial time in our lives, our son's senior year of high school and our daughter's college years, the last years before they venture out into the world on their own. I ask you all today, do not allow this injustice to continue. So who wants to tell Susie what the word injustice really means?

Or who wants to tell her that a lot of victims in this never got the opportunity to go to college in the first place? I ask all judicial members involved. Number one, remember that you are here today to focus on Russell Lafitte, not Alec Murdoch. Number two, remember that Russell is innocent until proven guilty and has the right to fair and just treatment and a fair trial. Above all, please remember that these, the proceedings of this court affect real life.

If any judicial members didn't understand these very basic facts of Russell's case before Susie's speech, we have a much bigger problem. Susie concluded her speech with one last plea to give Russell a fair trial. You know, his constitutional right. She claims again that inaccurate statements were made about Russell. And then weirdly, she says this. The morning after Russell's third hearing, a newspaper headline read, X Palmetto State Bank CEO, Russell Lafitte, and was published alongside a photo of

Alec Murdoch during his bond hearing in Columbia. Let me be clear, no photo of Russell Lafitte was published. It's imperative that this is stopped. If it is allowed to continue, it will be impossible for Russell to have a fair and just trial. Thank you. Does Susie think that judges have control over what photos are used in newspapers? Again, I can't believe that Russell's lawyers allowed her to make these

demands to a judge. Also, Susie talks a lot about being a responsible person and teaching her children to be responsible. Yet it's clear that she is missing teaching her children a very valuable lesson that my parents taught me when I was a teenager. And that is, you are who you associate with, meaning if you do business with bad people, you can't be mad when you're blamed for their actions. And we will be right back.

OK, so now that it has been established that Russell is a great father, a pillar of the community, and a, quote, responsible man, and definitely not friends with Alec Murdoch, let's talk about his two and a half hours of testimony. Russell's attorney, Bart Daniel, who is a super expensive defense lawyer and a former U.S. attorney, began his questioning by asking Russell about his background. One sentence stuck out about that testimony, quote, I've always worked and lived in Hampton County because that is a whole problem, right? Things work differently in Hampton County because of the generations of unchecked

corruption. All of this, everything Susie said, everything Russell said, sounds a lot better to their ears because their worlds are so small. Her total lack of awareness is because of this. And also when you look at all of the alleged crimes here, they have an element of because of the local culture, meaning that laws got broken. Norms were defined. Rules were overlooked because in the world that was created by the Murdochs and the Lafites and others, it was all okay.

So Bart takes Russell through a battery of standard questions that speak to his flight risk and potential danger to the community. But then he asked Russell about his role as conservator and whether he fully paid back the loans he took from the accounts. Russell says that he did and this is what opened a big door for assistant U.S. attorney, Emily Limehouse. During cross examination, she walked right through it. One of the first things she asked Russell was about his banking relationship with

Alec. David will read Russell's parts from the transcripts. He had always paid as well, so we didn't have any issues with him. We would always watch just like everybody else talked about his overdrafts and we watched them. We spoke with him many times, emailed him about them. You know, we stayed on top of him, loaned him money sometimes to cover them. Sometimes he would cover them with his own funds. So as we've reported before, Alec seems to be constantly and seriously overdrawn in his accounts while getting millions in loans from Palmetto State

Bank and allegedly stealing millions. But sure, Russell had no issues with him as a customer. A good portion of his overdrafts were paid off by loans and or allegedly stolen money, which according to the testimony, Russell helped facilitate. Russell says he wasn't aware that the money was stolen and we'll get to that in a second. It seems like Alec took at least one personal loan from Russell's father, Charlie Lafitte, who was CEO of the bank until 2020 in his chairman of the board.

That loan was for $125,000, according to Russell. And for what? Who knows? But the point is this, do bankers have to quote, stay on top of good customers, do good customers take out additional personal loans from the owners of the bank while also an overdraft at the bank in in-depth for millions? From 2011 to 2015, Russell told Emily he made about 100,000 to $150,000 every year. During that same time period, Russell made about $400,000 in fees from

quote unquote, managing the accounts of Alec's clients. Here's where things get really interesting. We're going to have Liz read the part of Emily while David reads the part of Russell. So during this time, you were making a substantial percentage of your yearly income on fees in your role as conservator or personal representative. Right. 25%. Yes, ma'am. Did you report these fees to the IRS?

Yes, ma'am. Every year you included the fees on your tax returns. I went back and paid all of them. We didn't do it. I did not do it at that time. I did some, not all of them, but I went back and I have amended all my tax returns to include them. So between 2011 and 2015, you never reported the income to the IRS.

I would have to go back and look at my tax return. When did you first report the income to the IRS from these fees? We, you just said you went back. I did some I did then, some I didn't. And I would say 2021. I corrected all of them. We amended all of my tax returns. Hmm.

I wonder what prompted Russell to go back in 2021 and make sure he reported the fees he got from Elix clients. 2021, what happened with Elix Murdoch during that year? Russell tells Emily that he doesn't remember which fees he didn't report until last year. But he also says that he's certain he reported his fees from the two cases where the vast majority of his fees were earned. I'm not sure why Russell doesn't remember this stuff.

It's possible he doesn't want to remember it because he knows how this is about to look for him. So he's right. The vast majority of his fees did come from two cases, Elena and Hannah Pliler. So he's saying he reported those fees and that he knows he paid taxes on them. Now, as far as we know, the Pliler sisters didn't have money stolen from them technically.

The alleged scheme was to borrow the money and pay it back according to Emily Limehouse and pay it back. And according to Emily Limehouse, Hannah is still owed about $8,000 from Elix. It is worth noting that the Plilers are white. The rest of the clients, Russell is accused of defrauding our black. Those fees that he apparently didn't report to the IRS were for black clients only, meaning Russell didn't legitimize those transactions. Why?

Well, we don't know. Maybe it is just a coincidence. But one thing to mention is that those black clients also had money stolen from them by Alec Murdoch. Also worth noting, like we said earlier, Russell admits that he basically did nothing to earn the fees in those cases. So we took fees for doing nothing. For clients he did not interact with, who had lots of money stolen from them.

And he did not report that income to the IRS until 2021. Remember that word responsible that Susie used to describe Russell? So after the big reveal that Russell didn't report select fees to the IRS, which sounds like tax fraud, Emily Limehouse then asked him about the loans that he took out. During the course of the time you served as their conservator, you took eight loans from the conservatorship account to yourself. Is that correct?

And those loans totaled $355,000? Yes. You testified that at the time your salary was about $100,000? Somewhere right in there, yes. And you took out a loan for about $250,000? That's correct. What did you take out the loan for? Actually, my lawyers and I were discussing, we have to research.

I don't remember at this time. So you don't remember taking out a $250,000 loan? No, ma'am. I remember taking the loan. I don't remember exactly what the money went to. Raise your hand if you think he knows what that money was for. People who don't live extravagantly, as the Lefites claim, typically know why they take out six-figure loans.

So let's pretend Russell does actually know what this money was for. One reason not to admit knowing might be if he happened to make a large purchase or investment with that money and that purchase or investment in turn made him money because that might become problematic for him in the Plyler civil case. And we might get to that on Friday. And here's Liz and David again as Emily and Russell. Did you request permission from the probate court to extend these loans to yourself and the conservatorship account?

I spoke to the probate judge originally. She said it was okay that we could loan money. So yes, I did. I think it's about to get even stickier with Russell because according to Emily Leimhaus, Hampton County probate judge Sheila Odom denies telling Russell that any of this was okay. And sadly, well for Russell, there's no signed order from Odom memorializing whatever approval he thinks she gave him.

And here again are David and Liz as Russell and Emily. Tell me about those conversations with Judge Odom. I went over, Alec had come to me and asked, he said, you know, can we said I need to borrow some money or whatever? He said, can I borrow it from the girl's account? And I said, look, I don't have any idea. I said, you know, we have a lot sitting here, but I said, I will have to talk to the judge.

So I went over, walked across the street to the courthouse, went to judge Odom, sat down and talked with her. And she said it wouldn't be a problem. So your testimony is, Alec came to you needing a loan. Yes. Why didn't you loan him money from Palmetto State Bank rather than from the conservatorship accounts? I could have.

Well, I say I could have. I couldn't approve this loans. I had to go through the executive committee. Why didn't you extend loans from Palmetto State Bank rather than from a minor child's money? I still feel that it was a good investment for the girls. They made money off of that investment a lot more than they would have made sitting there in a money market or CD.

Remember, Russell's job was not to invest the money. It was to keep it from being misused and to help the girls with their living expenses. Also, he was giving himself and Alec below market interest rates. So I'm not sure if Russell's math would actually work out here. It's important to know that Russell maintains that Alec was the first to ask about taking loans out from Hannah's accounts. But for some reason, Russell was the first to borrow money.

Emily Limehouse then asked Russell if for all intents and purposes, he and Alec took these loans out secretly. What would have happened had either of them defaulted on the loans? What recourse would Hannah Plylar have had to get her money back if no one knew about them? But the judge knew, Russell said. So it's important to say here that Russell did make these loans official, some of them anyway, by filing the paperwork with the probate court.

He also noted the loans and his annual accountancy to the court. It is clear that there is going to be a showdown between judge Sheila Odom and Russell Lafitte, should this case actually go to trial in November. And another point that Emily Limehouse made in her questioning is that over the years, Russell never actually paid back the money he borrowed from Hannah with any of his own money, meaning his salary from the bank and or his dividends. Instead, he used the fees he collected and didn't report to the IRS to pay back some of the loans.

And then when Hannah turned 18, he got a loan to help pay off that loan. Listen to this part carefully, again with Liz as Emily Limehouse and David as Russell Lafitte. And you got a loan from Johnny Parker? That's correct. And did you use a loan from Johnny Parker to pay off the remainder of those loans to pay off the remainder? Yes, man, I've been paying during over the years.

So did you get that Johnny Parker, a lawyer, a partner at PMPD, the titular partner at the Parker law group, which replaced PMPD loaned a banker, a man whose family owned the bank, in fact, money to pay off a loan he took from a client of his law firm and not just money, but a significant enough amount to where Russell is still making payments on it. What is going on in Hampton County? It's hard to know where the law firm ends and where the bank begins. It's hard to understand why Russell, a pillar of the community, according to

him and his wife, has found himself in such a pickle where he has to borrow money from a partner at PMPD, which is the bank's biggest private customer. According to Russell, Johnny Parker has been making lots of personal loans to people in the community. So that's interesting, right? What does that look like? How are these loans memorialized? How does he collect on those loans?

Remember, the confession of judgment, Ellick immediately filed last fall after his brother and Johnny Parker filed complaints against him for money he had allegedly borrowed from him. According to the complaint, Ellick owed Johnny $477,000 as of October 2021. Also, Emily Leimhaus revealed that one of the money orders Russell made using allegedly stolen money was for $388,687.50 from Ellick to Johnny Parker ostensibly to pay back another loan. At any rate, Russell better hope Johnny is cool with him testifying about those

loans. So Johnny Parker and Sheila Odom aren't the only people Russell seemed to throw under the bus. He spilled some tea on how some of the lawyers at PMPD were apparently using Palmetto St. Bank. Apparently the bank extended them loans that they paid off annually when they got their bonuses after the first of the year. He also threw his sister and father under the bus by admitting that the three

of them made decisions about loaning Ellick hundreds of thousands of dollars independent of the executive committee of the bank. According to Russell, this trio also made the independent decision to pay PMPD $680,000, which is half of the $1.325 million that was stolen from Arthur Badger. We'll talk more about this in Cup of Justice because as you might have guessed, this is not how banks are supposed to be operating. It really seems like it was a free for all for Russell's family at Palmetto St. Bank. Whatever was going on, Russell's testimony might have further

implicated him. We now know he wasn't reporting taxes and that he and his father and sister were operating outside the parameters of the bank's board. Oh, and there were three more things. In his testimony, Russell admitted that he allowed Ellick to use his $250,000 share of the green swamp hunting property multiple times as collateral for multiple loans at the same time. He also admitted to this.

And again, here is Liz as Emily Limehouse and David as Russell Lafitte. So you knew he came to you and asked, did he ask for money for farming or it was your idea to make it for farming? I'm not sure whose idea it was to put farming. He owned a large property, 1,700 acres plus or minus that had timber growing on it. So dust farms sort of, but it's common practice in banks to put loans onto the commercial side for ease of regulations or regulatory burden. Less oversight, right? You make a commercial loan.

There's less oversight. Yes, ma'am. And you do know a CEO of a bank that you have to put the accurate use and purpose of the funds in the loan documents and use those funds in the way that the loan is intended, correct? I know that's not the way you did it. I know that's what's supposed to happen, but that didn't in reality. It never happened with Ellick.

Did it in reality? In reality, I am not saying it didn't happen with Alec. Didn't happen with a lot of instances. So there's that, which sounds kind of like bank fraud. But there's also this. Russell admitted on the stand to helping Ellick structure his cash withdrawals. So he does not trigger the mandatory federal reporting limit of withdrawing cash in amounts of over $10,000.

It is not clear whether the statute of limitations has already run out on this. But if not, Russell could be facing additional charges. Maybe he'll also see some charges for tax evasion. This will likely depend on whether the U.S. Attorney's Office feels the need to pursue those charges. Russell is already gambling by not pleading out his case. Emily's questioning of Russell is related to something we've talked about a lot on this show. The apparent lack of curiosity from people who dealt with Ellick Murdoch.

Emily paints a picture in which Russell seems to be helping Ellick pay back the bank, meaning something was in it for Russell, something was in it for the bank. One of the most telling parts of Russell's relationship with Ellick and of his fathers and sisters apparent relationship with Ellick is this. In June, 2021, after the murders of Maggie and Paul, Ellick asked either Russell or Charlie, who was Russell's father, for a $750,000 loan. That loan would be on top of the millions he already owed the bank. Also, he was an overdraft.

Emily asked Russell by how much and Russell was like, I don't know, a lot. And when Emily gives him a dose of reality, a lot can be $50. What is a lot to you? He tells her hundreds of thousands. OK, so a man, his wife and son were just brutally murdered, who is hundreds of thousands of dollars in overdraft owing the bank millions of dollars, comes to you for cash to fix up his house. He was, to my knowledge, it was already a work in progress prior to the murders.

I don't can't say that that timeline is perfect, but. So it's a priority of Ellick Murdoch to renovate the beach house under these circumstances? I don't know what his priorities were. Enough for you and your father to loan him money from Palmetto State Bank. Yes, ma'am. This is how Ellick got that $750,000 commercial loan after the murders that he used to pay back some of the fee he allegedly stole from his friend, attorney Chris Wilson, and $400,000 of which Russell put into Ellick's account

to cover his $300,000 plus overdraft. To give him this loan, Russell, Charlie and Russell's sister Gray apparently operated outside the standard procedure with the board again. Russell apparently had a bank employee back date the loan forms after a member of the board began asking about Ellick's finances. And Russell apparently knew that $350,000 of this loan for house renovations was going not to a contractor, but to a Bamberg County lawyer. And then Ellick went to jail and the bank had to write off the loan as a loss.

It's hard to imagine what power Ellick Murdoch had over Russell and Charlie Lafitte that they would have allowed things to get this bad for them and their family business. OK, so this is a lot to follow, but to recap, during a hearing where Lafitte's team was trying to prove that he is responsible and doesn't deserve to be on strict angle monitoring, Russell managed to tell the court on the record that he was not responsible enough to report what was likely more than $100,000 in fees to the IRS until it suddenly dawned on him in 2021 to pay his taxes.

He was not responsible when he was the conservator for the plilers, nor was he responsible with Badger, Pinkney, Williams and Thomas's money. He was not responsible when he took out $355,000 in secret loans from a little girl's account and then had to turn to a PMPD partner for a loan to pay it off. He was not responsible when he didn't get it in writing. When Judge Odom allegedly told him he could loan out Hannah's money to himself and Ellick, he was not responsible when he and his sister and father were making loans to a derelict customer without fully informing the bank board.

He was not responsible when he mischaracterized the reasons for Ellick's loans to avoid banking regulations or when he allowed Ellick to use the same collateral for different loans at the same time or when he took $680,000 of the bank's money to pay back PMPD for the money Ellick allegedly stole. And we could go on. In the thing that's the most frustrating out of all of this, as little of feeds play victim before the court, there are still victims out there who are deeply hurt and devastated by this scheme.

Victims like Elena Plyler, who have to relive the worst times of their life when they lost family members, and now they have to come to terms with the fact that grown men with so much more money and power and privilege than they had took advantage of them during that time. On an emotional level, the word that are the term, the feeling that comes to mind is just simply heartbroken. And I say heartbroken because Russell was in mind of my sister's conservator not because of the amount of money.

It was because there was nobody that could be trusted with that amount of money that was on my end to my family. The attorneys felt like my family couldn't be trusted with that amount of money. So they felt a conservatorship would be the safest thing. And I would agree with them that would be the safest thing until I can't even be protected by somebody who was appointed to me to take care of and guard my finances. And it just goes to show like I said this that his first bond hearing like it goes to show you just really can't trust anybody, especially when like like I said,

like you were put in a position, you were appointed by a judge to be conservatorship. You have very high expectations and that's a really big role to have. It wasn't just my sister's account. It wasn't just my account. There were several other children and disabled victims that he had and not to mention just his clients period, just other clients. That's a lot of responsibility. And the fact that he got to a level in a position where he felt like it was OK

to to take money and to move money around like a chess game is unreal. It's unreal. So yeah, it's heartbreaking. It's frustrating. It's it's embarrassing. It's I mean, that there's there's several things that that would describe it, but very disappointing. Even after so much was revealed in the hearing,

there are still so many questions in Elena's case that need to be answered. Like why Russell was holding back all of that money, money that could have been life changing for her and her sister, and they still don't know where that money went and the real reason behind stealing all of this money and hurting all of these people. But Elena isn't dwelling on what answer she doesn't have. Elena, with the help of her attorneys, Ronnie Richter and Eric Bland, is learning a lot about the legal system in this case. In the really good news, she is focused on standing tall, using her voice and leading

by example, to show other victims that they can stand up for themselves and tell their own stories. I would like to continue to stand up for victims. I mean, I do in a different capacity, but still it just it shows that tomorrow you never know what where you're going to be. You know, so I've learned a lot from this case, just even pursuing hard cases, even when you think that you're at the end, like, don't assume that you're at the end because there's always another page to be turned.

And at the end of the day, it's a reminder, just let people talk and listen. Just listen to what people have to say. Did you learn a lot that way? And it just encourages me to want to tell, you know, to show people, like, stand up for yourself and don't stop until you're at where you need to be. The Murdoch Murders podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell, produced by Luna Shark Productions.