HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. — Alex Murdaugh, the suspended South Carolina attorney already facing numerous indictments on money-related crimes, now faces seven more, the South Carolina attorney general said on Thursday.
Attorney General Alan Wilson announced in a statement released late in the day that the embattled lawyer faces 21 new charges across the newly-announced indictments. The crimes he's accused of committing in the latest batch include nine counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, seven counts of computer crimes, four counts of money laundering, and one count of forgery.
Added to his previous multi-count indictments, Murdaugh now has 12 total that contains 48 separate charges - most if not all tied to allegedly defrauding victims out of millions.
Each indictment claims that Murdaugh used an account called "Forge" to intentionally mislead people into believing he was paying settlement money out to the appropriate places when, in fact, he operated the account and kept the money for personal use.
The "Forge" name was allegedly part of the lie since there is an actual Forge Consulting, LLC which, according to the attorney general, is a legitimate company used by South Carolina lawyers to "facilitate structured settlements." Murdaugh's accounts, however, were not tied to this real company.
Across all 12 current indictments, Murdaugh now faces accusations of attempting to defraud victims out of more than $6.2 million. Five of the seven new indictments were issued from Hampton County. The other two were issued in Beaufort and Colleton counties.
The new indictments come amid numerous other cases related to fraud, perhaps the most notable being allegations that Murdaugh tried to arrange his own death so his son could get $10 million in insurance money.
This, however, did not go as planned and ended with Murdaugh alive and eventually facing the first of many charges.
Murdaugh's former law firm, PMPED, is suing him, claiming he embezzled client and law firm money for his personal use. The lawsuit said they discovered a bank account in Murdaugh's name which he used to convert money owed to the law firm and their clients into money for himself.
The shooting deaths of his wife and other son remain unsolved.
Murdaugh's assets were recently frozen by a judge.