Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh indicted on 22 fraud counts related to housekeeper's death

Convicted murderer and former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was indicted Wednesday on 22 counts related to financial fraud, including that he stole insurance proceeds intended for the estate of his housekeeper, who died at his home in 2018.

The federal grand jury indictment alleges that Murdaugh participated in three different schemes to take money and property from his clients at his personal injury law practice.

The longest-running schemes, which occurred from at least September 2005 until September 2021, involved Murdaugh routing and redirecting clients' settlement funds for his own benefit, the Justice Department said.

In the second scheme, which lasted from around July 2011 until at least October 2021, Murdaugh conspired to commit wire and bank fraud with banker Russell Laffitte, who was convicted in November 2022 in the plot and is awaiting sentencing, officials said.

The indictment states that in the third scheme, Murdaugh funneled stolen personal injury settlements. The indictment further alleges that he conspired with an attorney to defraud his former housekeeper's estate and his own homeowner's insurance carriers after his housekeeper died from a fall at his home in 2018. The scheme involving the housekeeper saw Murdaugh receive more than $3.4 million in payments, officials said. 

Murdaugh is currently serving life in prison for the deaths of his wife and son.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.