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Weeks after his federal fraud convictions were vacated owing to eleventh hour jury shenanigans at his November 2022 trial in Charleston, South Carolina, accused fraudster Russell Laffitte is scheduled to be back in court.
This time, the order of business involves multiple state charges filed against the disgraced banker from Hampton, S.C. – whom prosecutors insist was a key cog in convicted killer Alex Murdaugh’s web of crime and corruption.
With Laffitte’s alleged assistance, Murdaugh – a powerful lawyer and deputy prosecutor from Hampton – stole millions of dollars from former clients, friends, law partners and family members. He has pleaded guilty to these financial crimes at the state and federal level, and been sentenced to decades behind bars.
Murdaugh was also convicted in March of 2023 of killing his wife and younger son on their family hunting property in June of 2021 in the hopes of avoiding exposure for his criminal acts.
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According to the office of South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson, which has prosecuted all of Murdaugh’s state-level crimes, a status conference has been scheduled in Laffitte’s case for next Monday (December 9, 2024) at 2:00 p.m. EST at the Orangeburg County Courthouse in Orangeburg, S.C.
Judge Heath Taylor – who has been tapped to handle all Murdaugh-related matters following the retirement of judge Clifton Newman last year – will preside over the hearing.
Laffitte was found guilty in November of 2022 in federal court of bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and misapplying bank funds related to his role in Murdaugh’s scams. In August of 2023, he was sentenced to seven years for those crimes – and was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman (FCC Coleman) in central Florida on September 28, 2023.
Last month, however, the U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals ruled that a last-minute reshuffling of the jury at Laffitte’s trial – initiated by U.S. district court judge Richard Gergel – violated Laffitte’s Sixth Amendment rights. His convictions were tossed and he was subsequently released from prison.
FITSNews addressed the Laffitte jury drama extensively in our recap of his guilty verdicts – raising concerns about Gergel’s action. Days after the trial, a transcript (.pdf) from the chaotic proceedings was released which only elevated these concerns.
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RELATED | LAFFITTE VERDICTS VACATED
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Federal prosecutors – led by Emily Limehouse, Winston Holliday and Kathleen Stoughton – made it clear following the fourth circuit’s ruling that they intend to retry Laffitte on all of his federal charges. And based on the overwhelming evidence and incriminating testimony from his first trial – not to mention the adeptness of the federal prosecution – guilty verdicts seem inevitable.
“Assuming Laffitte is granted a new trial, it is hard to imagine it going any better for him than the first one did,” I noted in my previous reporting on Laffitte’s initial appeal.
At the state level, Laffitte is staring down 21 state charges involving schemes to defraud victims of more than $1.8 million. No date has been set for his trial, but next week’s hearing could address a possible timeframe for the prosecution to proceed with its case against him.
At his last state hearing, Laffitte was represented by Columbia, S.C. attorney Mark Moore and powerful lawyer-legislator Todd Rutherford. Lead state prosecutor Creighton Waters – who heads up the grand jury division of the attorney general’s office – will appear in Orangeburg on behalf of the state.
Count on FITSNews to provide coverage of Monday’s hearing…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
It’s a good thing that they’ve decided to give him a retrial based on the poor judgement of the judge but what a waste of money. There’s no doubt he’s guilty.