Ex-Hampton bank CEO says he’s been cooperating with police in Alex Murdaugh investigation
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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The fired-CEO of a Hampton bank who oversaw cases in which Alex Murdaugh allegedly stole millions from clients said he has been cooperating with law enforcement “since the outset of the investigation” and has retained lawyers.
Attorneys for Russell Laffitte, fired as CEO of Palmetto State Bank on Jan. 7, released a statement Thursday afternoon, a week after Murdaugh was indicted on charges that he stole money from clients in cases involving Laffitte as legal representative.
“Contrary to published reports, Mr. Laffitte has been fully cooperating with authorities since the outset of the investigation and will continue cooperating,” according to the statement from Laffitte’s new lawyers, Matt Austin and Bart Daniel, of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Charleston.
It’s not clear what reports and what authorities the statement is referring to.
“Any further comment would be inappropriate due to the confidential nature of the government’s investigation into Alex Murdaugh,” it said.
Laffitte’s attorneys both have credentials in South Carolina’s federal prosecutors’ office. Austin served as an assistant U.S. Attorney from 2014 to last year, prosecuting white collar crime cases.
Daniel served as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina from 1989 to 1992, according to his website. Daniel also prosecuted the “gentlemen-smugglers” busted by Operation Jackpot, an undercover operation where more than 100 people were convicted of importing nearly $1 billion worth of drugs to South Carolina’s barrier islands between the 1970s and ‘80s.
Thursday’s statement from Laffitte’s lawyers appears an attempt to distance Laffitte from Murdaugh, accused in last week’s indictments of siphoning nearly $2.3 million from four victims.
Laffitte and Palmetto State Bank have come into the spotlight in the past few weeks, particularly with the indictments. Laffitte, who was not named in the indictments, had been inexplicably appointed conservator and personal representative for some victims.
Those roles, which typically fall to a responsible family member, meant he was responsible for overseeing the settlement money they earned.
Laffitte collected fees from the accounts of those victims, including that of a deaf Hampton man, Hakeem Pinckney, who was rendered quadriplegic from a 2009 car crash, according to attorney Justin Bamberg. He is representing the Pinckney family.
Murdaugh helped Pinckney and his family get a settlement from the tire company after the crash. The state grand jury accused Murdaugh of taking close to $750,000 from settlement funds meant for Pinckney family.
Laffitte also served as personal representative for the estate of Arthur Badger’s wife. In last week’s indictments, Murdaugh is accused of taking a total of $1.3 million from her estate.
Laffitte has not been charged with a crime.
In total, Murdaugh faces 71 financial criminal charges alleging he stole around $8.4 million.
Laffitte’s former employer cut ties with him on Jan. 7. The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette learned of the firing after asking the bank for comment on the news that the S.C. Supreme Court’s disciplinary arm had issued subpoenas for records of cases Laffitte and Murdaugh worked on in Hampton County.
“We do not believe that the board was apprised of them, the incidences we found about where Russell Laffitte served as a fiduciary of some kind,” a lawyer for Palmetto State Bank said in an interview last week.
Bamberg, however, said the bank and Laffitte need to be held accountable.
“There were a host of failures that led to and enabled Alex Murdaugh and Russell Laffitte to do that which they were doing,” he said.
This story was originally published January 27, 2022 at 6:35 PM.
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