Alex Murdaugh’s Spanish-speaking housekeeper at center of Mexican citizen’s lawsuit

Several prominent Hampton lawyers recently sued in conjunction with disbarred and accused South Carolina attorney Richard “Alex” Murdaugh have filed a joint dismissal motion, asking for opposing attorneys to be sanctioned and outlining how Murdaugh’s former household employee is allegedly involved in the legal actions.

Orangeburg attorneys Glenn Walters Sr. and Korey L. Williams filed a lawsuit in Hampton County on Oct. 7 on behalf of one of Murdaugh’s alleged victims, Mexican citizen Manuel Santis-Cristiani, naming Murdaugh and his former law firm, Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, and two of its associates, Ronnie Crosby and William Barnes.

The suit, which also named Palmetto State Bank and its former CEO Russell Laffitte, alleged that the banker and the three PMPED attorneys were responsible for stealing personal-injury settlement funds from Santis-Cristiani.

However, an Oct. 25 court filing on behalf of PMPED, Barnes and Crosby disputes the lawsuit’s allegations and asks for the suit against the PMPED parties to be dismissed with prejudice. it also asks the court to consider sanctions against Walters and Williams for filing the suit.

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Motion claims other PMPED attorneys had no knowledge of crimes

Murdaugh has been indicted by the South Carolina State Grand Jury on more than 90 criminal charges based on allegations that the former personal-injury lawyer stole millions from multiple clients in multiple counties, including Santis-Cristiani, during a decade-long crime spree.

The PMPED joint motion claims that Murdaugh stole roughly $70,000 from funds that were supposed to go toward paying the Mexican client’s medical bills at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The motion and affidavits attached to it say PMPED, Barnes and Crosby had “no knowledge of Murdaugh’s criminal misconduct at the time,” and they demand to be dismissed from the Oct. 7 lawsuit.

Joint Motion by Barnes, Crosby PMPED by USA TODAY Network on Scribd

Murdaugh’s former housekeeper involved in Mexican citizen’s legal matters

According to both legal filings, Santis-Cristiani was one of several passengers injured in a rollover accident that occurred in November 2008 in Colleton County. PMPED was hired to represent the occupants of the vehicle in a products-liability case against Ford Motor Company and Michelin North America.

Murdaugh, while a partner at PMPED, handled the case with assistance from Crosby and Barnes.

Because Santis-Cristiani was a Mexican national and did not speak English, the PMPED attorneys needed an interpreter, according to the filing. Blanca Simpson, of Brunson, was engaged by Murdaugh to interpret, make travel arrangements for Santis-Cristiani, and serve as the liaison between PMPED and the Mexican plaintiff.

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Simpson was a former housekeeper for Murdaugh and his late wife, Maggie, according to the court filing and other public records.

Attached to the motion was an Oct. 21 affidavit from former PMPED attorney Lee D. Cope claiming that in late 2021 or early 2022, Simpson visited the law offices and asked him about the Santis-Cristiani case.

According to Cope’s affidavit, Simpson said that Santis-Cristiani did not want his money in a Mexican bank because “the government would take it.” Instead, he wanted his money in a U.S. account with Simpson in control of it. When Cope informed Simpson that he would need to speak to Santis-Cristiani before that could be approved, she said that it was very difficult to get in touch with the Mexican resident, according to the filing.

The motion further states that Simpson never arranged the call and never provided confirmation, so PMPED took no action.

Simpson was named Santis-Cristiani’s Power of Attorney on May 19, 2022, according to a document filed in Hampton County court on June 24, 2022.

The filing also claims that over the summer of 2022, Simpson informed Crosby that Santis-Cristiani had engaged the Orangeburg attorneys to represent him, after which time Crosby called Walters and instructed him that if the Mexican client contacted them with written authorization, they would turn over his files, but they never heard further from anyone or received an authorization from the client.

PMPED claims Santis-Cristiani has already been paid

The Oct. 7 lawsuit alleges that Santis-Cristiani was not aware of the amount of the settlement and never received any money.

Santis-Cristiani’s case was settled following a mediation on March 8, 2013, according to the counter-action, after he traveled from Mexico to Hampton County to participate in the mediation of his case. The filing also claims that he was present for the mediation, as was Simpson, who interpreted for the attorneys and explained the settlement to Santis-Cristiani, who was “fully aware of the terms of the settlement and approved them.”

The motion includes copies of checks and deposit receipts which the Hampton attorneys say prove that they had paid the settlement.

In October 2016, PMPED issued a check made payable to Santis-Cristiani for all remaining settlement funds, or $73,857.24, or 1,457,687.83 Mexican Pesos, according to the filing. The check was deposited at Palmetto State Bank on Nov. 10, 2016, in anticipation of transmitting the funds by international wire transfer.

Immediately following the deposit, the settlement funds were sent by international wire transfer through Palmetto State Bank to the plaintiff’s bank account at Banco Azteca, according to the motion.

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In affidavits, the PMPED attorneys state that Simpson later informed that Santis-Cristiani had received his settlement funds.

“In short, Plaintiff received the entire amount of the settlement that was due to him,” states the motion. “The allegation made in the Complaint in this action that Plaintiff did not receive his settlement monies is demonstrably false.”

Once it learned of Murdaugh’s alleged crimes, PMPED then replenished its trust account for the money that Murdaugh had misappropriated, depositing $70,000 on Sept. 27, 2021, according to the motion. The motion states that his money may actually be owed to MUSC, not the client, and that PMPED is keeping it in trust until it can contact Santis-Cristiani.

PMPED has made countless unsuccessful attempts to contact with the client through Simpson, from late 2021 through the summer of 2022, according to the court filing. Attached to the filing are photos of text messages allegedly attempting to reach Santis-Cristiani.

Hampton attorneys seek sanctions on Orangeburg lawyers

The joint motion asks the court to sanction Williams and Walters for violating court rules by filing a pleading that makes “false and highly defamatory allegations” without any “good faith basis for those allegations and without conducting a reasonable investigation of the facts prior to filing suit.”

The motion claims that the attorneys for Santis-Cristiani did not consult with the plaintiff’s counsel prior to filing this motion, nor made further efforts to request get their client’s written authorization in order to review the client file offered to them by Crosby.

The motion further alleges that the Orangeburg attorneys filed the lawsuit “based solely on information provided to them by Blanca Simpson, without further investigation, or that they simply made up,” and that Simpson was not aware of the suit and contradicted its allegations in verbal statements.

Alex Murdaugh at center of multiple allegations and lawsuits

In September 2021, PMPED uncovered Murdaugh’s fraudulent schemes in which he allegedly stole funds from clients, the law firm, its partners and his family members, according to the law firm. PMPED then demanded Murdaugh’s resignation and reported his alleged misconduct to law enforcement and state judicial authorities.

Since that time, Murdaugh has been served with a dozen lawsuits, including one in federal court, and is facing scores of criminal charges, including two counts of murder in the June 7, 2021, shootings of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul.

Former Palmetto State Bank CEO Laffitte has also been indicted in connection with these alleged crimes, both in state and federal courts.

Murdaugh remains jailed in Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on a $7 million bond he has been unable to meet.

In January 2022, PMPED rebranded itself as The Parker Law Group.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh’s housekeeper at center of Mexican citizen’s lawsuit