Alex Murdaugh: Disgraced South Carolina lawyer faces 21 new charges, as bond hearing postponed

According to South Carolina’s attorney general, Mr Murdaugh attempted to defraud his alleged victims of more than $6 million

Scandal-prone former lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been hit with 21 new charges related to fraud and other crimes, South Carolina’s attorney general has announced.

Mr Murdaugh, who had already been accused of trying to arrange his own death in an attempt at insurance fraud, now faces nine counts of breach of trust with fraudulent intent, seven counts of computer crimes, four counts of money laundering, and one count of forgery.

In total, Attorney General Alan Wilson says, Mr Murdaugh is accused of swindling his alleged victims – who were not named – out of more than $6m.

“Altogether, Murdaugh is charged in the new December State Grand Jury Indictments with respect to alleged schemes to defraud victims of $1,365,440.24,” Mr Wilson said in a statement on Thursday. “When combined with the State Grand Jury Indictments from November, the alleged total is $6,218,923.33.”

The Independent has reached out to Mr Murdaugh’s lawyers for comment.

Meanwhile, one of those lawyers says the bond hearing for Mr Murdaugh, who is currently in jail, has been postponed.

“The Murdaugh bond hearing set for tomorrow at 9:00am will be re-scheduled next week, after last minute charges brought by AG,” attorney Jim Griffin tweeted on Thursday.

Mr Murdaugh first made headlines last summer, when his wife and son were shot dead. Months later, Mr Murdaugh himself was shot, but later admitted that he had arranged the shooting himself in order to secure a $10m life insurance payout for his surviving son.

Meanwhile, police are taking a second look at Mr Murdaugh’s housekeeper, who died under disputed circumstances in 2018. Mr Murdaugh has said the maid, Gloria Satterfield, died in a trip-and-fall accident, but the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division says it has new information on the case, and has launched a criminal investigation.

Separately, Ms Satterfield’s sons have sued Mr Murdaugh to recover millions of dollars that they say he owed him from a lawsuit they filed after her death. In October, Mr Murdaugh was arrested in Florida and charged with “obtaining property by false pretenses” in the case.

After the arrest, Mr Murdaugh’s lawyers lamented that the charges took attention away from the unsolved murders of his wife and son.

“Alex intends to fully cooperate with this investigation, as he has with the investigation into the murder of his wife and son,” the two attorneys, Mr Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, said in October. “He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders.”