Former South Carolina Lawmaker Indicted By Feds

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by WILL FOLKS

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Former South Carolina state representative Marvin Pendarvis was hit by a federal grand jury with a ten-count criminal indictment, according to charges unsealed on Wednesday (November 5, 2025).

Pendarvis, 36, of North Charleston, S.C., was charged with four counts of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of money laundering and one count of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity.

According to the indictment (.pdf), from as early as January 2022 through at least April 2024, Pendarvis – a powerful lawyer-legislator “knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme to defraud his clients and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses.”

Specifically, Pendarvis “represented certain individuals who had been injured and/or suffered loss,” per the charges. Unbeknownst to these clients, he allegedly “negotiated settlements on (their) behalf… but failed to inform (them) that a settlement had been obtained and/or informed (them) that the settlement was for less than had actually been received.”

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In some of these cases, Pendarvis “fraudulently signed the client’s names on settlement releases with an insurance company” and “filed settlement documents with the clerk of court without his clients’ knowledge and/or approval of the settlement,” per the indictments.

Pendarvis ultimately obtained settlement funds in the amount of $532,000 from which “he did not pay his clients any portion of the received settlement funds.”

Indictments also alleged Pendarvis used the identities of at least five individuals whose names were “known to the grand jury” without lawful authority.

Additionally, he made two withdrawals from a federal credit union – one for $50,000 on June 6, 2023 and another for $25,000 on June 16, 2023 – which were “designed, in whole or in part, to promote the carrying on of a specific unlawful activity.”

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To recap: Pendarvis was slapped with a civil lawsuit back in April 2024 accusing him of settling a specific case without his client’s knowledge or permission, forging his client’s signature on the settlement documents and then trying to bribe the former client after he got caught. That filing – which we were told tied into a much broader story involving Pendarvis – sparked a criminal investigation by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Pendarvis is also reportedly tied to an ongoing federal investigation into a gun grant scandal involving city officials and multiple nonprofit organizations in his hometown.

Amid these scandals, the S.C. supreme court suspended his law license on May 17, 2024 and Pendarvis resigned his seat in the S.C. General Assembly on September 16, 2024 – news of which broke three days later. Curiously, because his name remained on the ballot, he was reelected to his seat with 97.3% of the vote last November – although he posted a belated formal resignation letter shortly thereafter.

Once viewed as a rising star within the Democratic party, Pendarvis is now a cautionary tale…

Count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised of the latest developments in the federal government’s case against Pendarvis… including any news on his arraignment.

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THE INDICTMENT…

(U.S. District Court)

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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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