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Boating Crash Victims Ask Court To Bar Alex Murdaugh And Son From Disposing Of Family Assets
Beleaguered widower and jailed attorney Alex Murdaugh wrongly transferred, sold or disposed of his family's sizable assets, according to a trio of separate court filings made in Hampton County last week.
Jailed legal scion Alex Murdaugh and his son could be hiding millions of dollars worth of assets, according to newly filed court motions, and the victims of a deadly 2019 crash in his boat are now asking a South Carolina court to intervene.
Lawyers in three separate civil suits requested the court transfer control of Murdaugh’s extensive financial holdings to an independent mediator, the Associated Press reported. Attorney said they believe Murdaugh may be shifting money between accounts and potentially selling off property as he faces multiple lawsuits over various alleged schemes over the years.
Two of the lawsuits revolve around the 2019 boating death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, which involved Alex Murdaugh’s late son, Paul Murdaugh. The third pertains to the wrongful death suit of Murdaugh’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 after a supposed trip-and-fall accident involving the family dogs at his property.
The filings came after Murdaugh handed over all his financial dealings to his surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, according to the AP.
The beleaguered widower may have "transferred, sold, encumbered or otherwise disposed of assets," according to the court motions filed in Hampton County last week, Fox News reported.
“Alex Murdaugh has engaged in repeated dishonesty, deception and fraud,” attorneys wrote in the court filings. “He has shown that he will go to extraordinary lengths to misappropriate, steal, transfer or otherwise dispose of money in a manner that benefits him or his family, with complete disregard for the interests of third persons.”
Since the unsolved fatal shooting in June of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh, at the family’s sprawling hunting lodge, the South Carolina lawyer has been under heavy scrutiny.
Since the night that he phoned police to report that he'd found their bodies, Murdaugh's life has publicly spiraled downward.
On Oct. 19, Murdaugh was denied bond by a South Carolina circuit judge pertaining to his involvement in the alleged embezzlement of upwards of $3.4 million from settlement funds related to Satterfield’s wrongful death case. South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman said he would require reports on Murdaugh’s mental state before making a decision regarding his possible release pending his trial, according to the AP.
Murdaugh was arrested earlier this month after leaving a rehabilitation facility, where he was in treatment for an opioid addiction, according to his lawyers. He'd entered the facility after an alleged assisted suicide attempt over Labor Day weekend. His legal team has insisted he’s been in deep mourning since the loss of his wife and son.
Murdaugh was also sued this month by his former law firm, which was founded by his family over 100 years ago, for allegedly misappropriating money from clients.
Jim Griffin, one of Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys, didn’t immediately respond to Oxygen.com’s request for comment on Wednesday.
You can watch "Alex Mudaugh. Death. Deception. Power." here or on Peacock starting January 6.
