A MYSTERY double murder later linked to two more suspicious deaths has taken another bizarre twist.
Alex Murdaugh – a suspended South Carolina lawyer accused of a string of criminal offences – is facing more charges, including drug trafficking.
Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh is facing drug trafficking charges[/caption]
South Carolina’s Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday that Murdaugh, 63, and Curtis Smith, 62, were indicted on two counts of trafficking oxycodone.
It’s claimed Smith – a distant cousin of Murdaugh’s – also helped in Alex’s botched suicide attempt last September.
Smith is also facing money laundering, forgery, and additional drug trafficking charges.
Murdaugh and Smith have been accused of committing hundreds of illegal transactions “to facilitate the acquisition and distribution of illegally obtained narcotics” in several South Carolina counties between 2013 and 2021 with the aide of others.
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They are also alleged to have conspired to commit financial crimes together during the same period after Murdaugh allegedly provided Smith with over 300 checks totalling $2.4m.
“Murdaugh drew the checks on accounts under his control at multiple banks, and made the checks payable to various versions of Smith’s name, as well as to close associates of Smith,” the indictment read.
“In some instances, Smith forged the endorsement of his close associates without their knowledge or consent, then endorsed the checks himself.
“In any case, Smith converted the checks into cash or deposits. Murdaugh and Smith structured many of these transactions and used them to facilitate the acquisition and distribution of illegally obtained narcotics.”
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Prosecutors allege Smith shot Murdaugh as part of a failed suicide bid to claim a $10m insurance payout for his son, Buster.
The alleged suicide attempt happened months after Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret, and their other son, Paul, were found dead outside their sprawling estate.
Murdaugh called cops on September 4, 2021, saying he had been shot in the head by an unknown truck driver on a country road.
But days later, he admitted to police that Smith shot him at his behest in an attempt to stage his own murder suicide.
He was soon whisked away to rehab for opioid addiction.
Smith vehemently denies Murdaugh’s version of events and claims he was “set up” and denied accusations he was the suspended lawyer’s drug dealer.
Since his arrest over the failed suicide, Murdaugh has faced 16 state grand-jury indictments, including 81 counts of financial crimes for allegedly stealing more than $8m from clients and his former law firm, according to Yahoo news.
Murdaugh has also been accused of diverting millions of dollars to a secret bank account from a wrongful-death settlement meant for the sons of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
Satterfield died in a 2018 fall on the disgraced lawyer’s home and Murdaugh allegedly coordinated with her family “to sue himself in order to seek an insurance settlement”.
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The housekeeper’s two sons insist they didn’t receive a dime of the $4.3m payout.
Murdaugh has also been implicated in other probes as well, including allegations he conspired to influence a 2019 investigation into a drunken boat crash involving his late son Paul that killed a teen girl.
Murdaugh has been accused of trafficking oxycodone and defrauding clients of $8m[/caption]
