Columbia, South Carolina (AP) — Formerly prominent and soon to be deprecated, South Carolina Lawyer Alex Murdo He was charged again, but the prosecutor said his crimes extended to eight years of money laundering and painkiller rings between a friend and a former client charged with trying to help his suicide. I said that.
According to an indictment filed last week and opened on Tuesday, Madau wrote 437 checks worth $ 2.4 million, cashed by Curtis “Eddie” Smith over eight years, and part of that money for himself. I left it and used the rest for a wide range of illegal activities.
According to prosecutors, the illegal activity included a “distribution network” of the painkiller oxycodone, and no other possible crimes were identified. Both men were charged with possession, manufacture or distribution of narcotics, but court records did not provide additional details.
16th indictment against Madau from Lie to the police, try to arrange his death to steal money from his clients, arrange a $ 4.3 million illegal death settlement for a housekeeper who fell at home and died, then dimed his family did not.
However, the shooting of Madau’s wife and young son, who were killed outside the house in June 2021, remains unresolved. Their killings are not mentioned in any of the new indictments, and both Madau and Smith categorically state that they have nothing to do with them.
About three months before the killing, Murdo and Smith began washing more money and stopped taking precautions to avoid detection, said the Attorney General’s head of the state grand jury department. One Clayton Waters said.
Waters did not reveal further details at Smith’s bond hearing on Tuesday.
Murdo is also waiting for a formal order Revoke his legal license..He decided not to fight the State Supreme Court Last week’s decisionThis ends the legal career of a prominent family member who has dominated the legal scene in the small Hampton County for almost a century. Murdo’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were elected prosecutors in the region for 87 consecutive years.
Murdo, 54, was charged with criminal conspiracy and possession, manufacture, or distribution of drugs in a recent indictment.
Most of the indictments were against Smith, who met Madau when a lawyer was needed for a worker’s compensation proceeding.After his law firm discovered he was Steal moneySmith is the man he called to allow his surviving son to raise a $ 10 million life insurance policy when Madau asked someone to kill him.
Smith’s shot I grabbed only Murdo’s head According to police, on the side of a two-lane road last September. Last year, both men were indicted in the case.
Smith, 61, is currently facing four counts of money laundering, three counts of counterfeiting, possession, manufacture, or distribution of drugs. Trafficking in methamphetamine and other charges. Each money laundering fee is itself imprisoned for up to 20 years.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Smith told the judge that he was drawn into the plan rather than his choice and was looking forward to revealing his name. His deposit was set at $ 250,000.
Smith’s lawyer said he wasn’t sure if his client could afford it.
“We just have to wait and reveal more facts,” said Jarrett Buchette. .. “
According to the indictment, to circumvent the federal government’s requirement for banks to report large transactions, Murdau wrote almost every check in Smith for less than $ 10,000.
Prosecutors said Mr Smith had forged the names of both his daughter and girlfriend in the eight years he worked on Murdo checks.
Smith is Madau’s third companion and friend Face criminal accusations..The state grand jury also charged another person lawyer When bunker, They said they helped Madau steal money from customers.
In 81 indictments against Murdo, prosecutors say he stole at least $ 8.4 million.He is also facing Number to grow Civil proceedings r.
Earlier this month, on the anniversary of June 7, 2021, the deaths of Murdo’s wife Maggie (52) and son Paul (22) passed without arrest or additional information from state law enforcement. ..The agent revealed that they barely exceeded the fact that they were shot outside Colleton County’s house and Madau. Called 911He said he found the body.
Murdo says he was visiting his mother and his sick father when his wife and son were killed.
Murdaugh has been imprisoned for $ 7 million in public debt for various financial costs since October.
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