Should Alex Murdaugh’s $7M bond be lowered? SC judge to consider it Monday
A South Carolina judge will hear arguments Monday over whether to lower the $7 million bond slapped last year on accused embezzler Alex Murdaugh.
Judge Alison Renee Lee will preside over the 2 p.m. hearing. It will be held virtually.
Murdaugh, 53, a once prominent Lowcountry lawyer, is accused of stealing millions of dollars from friends, former colleagues, his former law firm and clients, indictments allege. His license to practice law was suspended in September, and his former law firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth Detrick, recently rebranded and removed the Murdaugh name.
On Dec. 13, Lee set a $7 million surety bond for Murdaugh after hearing evidence from State Grand Jury prosecutor Creighton Waters that Murdaugh not only posed a danger to himself and others, but also his alleged crimes were substantial enough to warrant such a bond.
Waters said the 12 indictments against Murdaugh charge him with stealing some $6.2 million from clients and associates from October 2015 through 2020.
“When added up, the potential penalties are 506 years [in prison] and about $3.5 million in potential fines,” said Waters, who works for the Attorney General’s office.
Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian argued his client does not have $7 million.
“Mr. Murdaugh does not have seven million dollars or anything close to that amount,” Harpootlian and attorney Jim Griffin said in their written motion to Lee.
“Mr. Murdaugh is a man who cannot pay his phone bill.”
In their motion, Griffin and Harpootlian said that all charges against Murdaugh are classified as “non-violent,” and said he does not pose a danger. Their client will obey conditions set down by the court, the lawyers said.
Murdaugh also has an opioid addiction, his lawyers argue.
Their motion also said that Murdaugh’s assets are tied up in a receivership, so he cannot access any money without approval from the attorneys who oversee the money.
Murdaugh, once a powerful, wealthy attorney, has since become the focus of international news coverage.
Last June, Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were found shot to death at their Colleton County estate.
He is a “person of interest” in that case, his lawyer has said. Their deaths are still unsolved.
