Alex Murdaugh sentenced in federal court to 40 years in prison for financial crimes

Dakin Andone, CNN | 4/1/2024, 11:18 a.m.
Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh received another prison sentence on Monday, this time in federal court, where a judge sentenced him …

Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh received another prison sentence on Monday, this time in federal court, where a judge sentenced him to 40 years after he pleaded guilty last year to nearly two dozen charges of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

The federal sentence – which includes an order Murdaugh pay more than $8.7 million in restitution to his victims – will run concurrently with the 27 years he’s already serving following his guilty plea in state court to similar crimes.

Both the federal and state cases stemmed from financial misconduct that prosecutors say saw the now-disbarred attorney defraud his personal injury clients and law firm of millions of dollars.

That’s in addition to the two consecutive life sentences he received a year ago for his conviction of the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul – killings state prosecutors cast as a desperate attempt to distract from and delay investigations into his unraveling financial schemes.

While Murdaugh insists he is innocent of the murders, he has admitted to the financial crimes, saying he was maintaining a yearslong opioid addiction.

Murdaugh pleaded guilty last September to 22 federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

View Our E-Editon