Alex Murdaugh appears in a prison photo released in March 2023. (South Carolina Department of Corrections)
Convicted double murderer and disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh has been indicted on new financial crimes, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday.
On April 20, a state grand jury in Colleton County, South Carolina, issued a two-count indictment accusing Murdaugh of willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax over tax years 2020 and 2021.
In 2020, the indictment alleges Murdaugh also received an additional $1.12 million through efforts to defraud his former namesake, law firm and the firm’s clients of proceeds from the settling of lawsuits.
“The funds derived from both Murdaugh’s regular employment and his ongoing illegal activity were converted to personal use,” the first count of the indictment alleges. “Despite filing individual income tax returns in the past, and despite earning sufficient income such that he was required to file an individual income tax return, Murdaugh willfully did not file a tax return in order to evade the assessment of $67,624 of income tax due to the State of South Carolina.”
In 2021, the indictment alleges, a similar story played out. That year, Murdaugh allegedly defrauded his firm and clients of just over $1 million. And according to the indictment, he failed to file a tax return to avoid paying $64,948 in state income tax.
“In total, the two indictments allege $9,067,706 of unreported income and thus state tax evaded in the amount of $619,391,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office said in a press release.
The indictment goes on to allege that Murdaugh’s tax evasion schemes also violated state money laundering laws and that those alleged efforts involved computer crimes or a conspiracy.
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Murdaugh has been indicted for tax evasion before.
In December 2020, the fallen-from-grace legal scion was indicted for tax evasion spanning 2011 through 2019. Those charges came from an indictment issued by a grand jury in Hampton County. They allege that Murdaugh failed to report over $6.95 million worth of income to skip out on $486,819 worth of taxes owed to Palmetto State tax authorities.
For each tax charge, Murdaugh faces up to five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000 – plus the cost of prosecution. But the defendant’s tax-related legal troubles barely crack the surface and make up less than 10 percent of the financial crimes he stands accused of.
“Altogether, through 20 indictments containing 101 charges against Murdaugh, the State Grand Jury has indicted Murdaugh for schemes to defraud victims of $8,789,447.77 and $619,391 to the State of South Carolina,” the AG’s office noted.
During his double murder trial, the defendant accepted legal culpability for numerous schemes to defraud.
More Law&Crime coverage: Alex Murdaugh has admitted to dozens of financial crimes and faces over 700 years in prison for those concessions alone
Murdaugh is serving two consecutive life sentences for the June 2021 murder of his wife and younger son.
Law&Crime reached out to a representative for Murdaugh’s defense attorneys, but not no response was immediately forthcoming.
Read the latest indictment in full below:
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