Judge delays setting trial date for Murdaugh alleged accomplice Russell Laffitte

State Judge Clifton Newman on Thursday delayed setting a trial date on the financial crime charges allegedly committed by ex-banker Russell Laffitte in concert with convicted killer Alex Murdaugh.

During a 24-minute hearing at the Beaufort County courthouse, state attorney general’s lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told Newman that Laffitte faces 21 counts of financial crimes involving some $8 million in thefts in various South Carolina counties.

Complicating the situation is Laffitte’s conviction by a federal jury in Charleston for financial crimes parallel to those he is charged with in state court. Last month, U.S. Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Laffitte to seven years in federal prison for those crimes.

Laffitte is scheduled to report to federal prison on Sept. 21 unless the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals grants him an appeal bond, his attorney, Mark Moore, told Newman. An appeal bond would allow Laffitte to stay free for months until the Court of Appeals either upholds last November’s verdict and overturns it.

Moore said he had been hoping for an appeal bond to be granted by the 4th Circuit by this time but has had no word.

State Rep. Todd Rutherford, Laffitte’s other lawyer, told Newman “there is absolutely no reason to move this case forward.”

A federal jury decided last year that Laffitte’s crimes were committed in concert with Murdaugh, who schemed with Laffitte to use Laffitte’s bank as a vehicle to launder money and plunder bank accounts of Murdaugh’s former clients. The bank accounts were for Murdaugh’s former clients who had won millions in court settlements and for whom Laffitte was supposed to serve as steward.

In giving Laffitte seven years in prison, Gergel described the offenses as “among the state’s most notorious financial crimes.”

Murdaugh was an unindicted co-conspirator in Laffitte’s trial, and his name and actions were cited repeatedly during that trial.