Alleged Alex Murdaugh accomplice enters guilty pleas
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A former banker and accused co-conspirator of Alex Murdaugh, Russell Laffitte, has formally file a guilty plea.
The agreement was filed Monday and formalized by Friday.
Under the agreement, Laffitte will spend five years in prison followed by a term of supervised release. Court documents state Laffitte agreed to pay $3,555,884.80 in criminal restitution.
In the federal filing, Laffitte agreed to plead guilty to six counts of bank and wire fraud.
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- Count 1: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud
- Count 2: Bank fraud
- Count 3: Wire fraud
- Counts 4-6: Misapplication of bank funds
By entering the plea agreement, Laffitte agrees that he is prohibited from engaging in business affairs with any federally insured banks or credit unions.
In 2022, a jury convicted Laffitte of helping Murdaugh steal around $2 million in legal settlements and sentenced him. Judge Richard Gergel sat on the bench for the trial and sentenced Laffitte to seven years in prison and to pay $3.5 million in restitution in August of 2023.
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Laffitte’s sentence was overturned in November of 2024 when an appellate court determined that, during his trial, the removal of two jurors was mishandled. It was claimed that Judge Gergel made the decision unilaterally and privately, accepting one juror’s request to be removed during a one-on-one interaction, failing to allow the defense to object, and removing another for needing medication.
Before Monday’s plea agreement, Laffitte’s federal court date was scheduled to begin at the beginning of May.
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