Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, already facing life in prison for the murders of his wife and son, has received another hefty sentence. A federal judge in Charleston sentenced Murdaugh to 40 years in prison today for a multitude of federal financial crimes.
Murdaugh, a disbarred former legal powerhouse in South Carolina, pleaded guilty last year to 14 counts of money laundering, five counts of wire fraud, a bank fraud charge, and other offenses. Prosecutors detailed a decade-long scheme where Murdaugh stole millions of dollars from unsuspecting clients and his own law firm.
The newly imposed sentence will be served concurrently with the 27-year prison term Murdaugh received on related state financial charges. However, the 40-year federal sentence serves as additional insurance. Should Murdaugh’s murder convictions be overturned on appeal, he would still face significant federal prison time for his financial crimes.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, who delivered the sentence, called Murdaugh’s actions a “decade-long betrayal of trust” and a “flagrant abuse of power.” The judge emphasized the need to send a strong message of deterrence in such cases.
Murdaugh’s legal woes began to unravel after the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in 2021. Investigations into the killings exposed a web of financial misdeeds, ultimately leading to his disbarment and separate state and federal charges. While appealing his murder convictions, Murdaugh seems destined to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
