An accomplice to convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh’s financial misdeeds gets seven years in prison

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

The former CEO of a respected South Carolina bank will spend seven years in federal prison for helping Alex Murdaugh steal nearly $2 million from clients’ legal settlements. Russell Laffitte was sentenced Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of six charges related to wire and bank fraud back in November. He has vowed to appeal the decision. Murdaugh is serving life without parole for killing his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul, in June 2021. Laffitte is the first of the disgraced former attorney’s accomplices to face prison time after the shooting deaths that stemmed from investigations into the Murdaugh finances.