Anyone following the Murdaugh family murders in South Carolina?

[MissGotRocks]

Has anything been said in court about what Maggie’s forensic accountant had found?
If that corp abandoned that task once she was murdered, or did it only to the surface
And if the prosecutor doesn’t dive into this to find out what’s lies vs what’s been done- this just gets stinkier and stinkier.

I think there’s a good chance he had a ‘partner’ in his thefts ( I’m sure they called it investments ) and that will account for a good deal of it - if indeed he isn’t exaggerating. Because that’s believable too.

Not the same - but It’s crazy how many and high executives and local to them bankers don’t seem to think check kiting is bad or stealing or illegal. Some just seem to think it’s a legit way to do business, even when they know skimming is going on with it.

I do think they think they are entitled to do whatever they want with the money. Everyone said this whole fiasco started with the boat accident. I say it started years ago when Alex started stealing. The boat accident was merely going to bring that to light.

I know he will be tried for many of the financial crimes and perhaps at that time, the money trail will be revealed. One of his partners said that it was north of ten million dollars that had to be paid back to clients. He said insurance covered some of it and the partners had to make up the rest. That was taken over ten years but still, that's a lot of money that has seemingly vanished. Maybe they will find offshore accounts but it just seems to me that something was driving him to take all of that money. Something out of his control and more than an oxy addiction.

 

[RMOO]

The financial crime trials will be interesting, and will probably shed some light on where all that money went. I believe they did own several properties, and that would require property taxes and upkeep, but still... Add to that, a lavish lifestyle, buying admissions to universities they couldn't legitimately get into, and drug habit(s?.)

Alex and the entire family dynasty (spoiled children for generations) reminds me of the people who win multi-million lotteries and within a few years are poor and in debt. I don't believe this sketchy behavior was invented by Alex. He was taught that this was how they did business and "fixed" mistakes. There was a witness who said that Alex's father Randolph came to the hospital after the boat accident, and led the cover-up. And I'm sure Randolph learned from someone too. Randolph Murdaugh I (Alex's Great-Grandfather) died in a car/train accident and the family sued the train company for 2 million (in today's value) because the train was not able to stop, and he didn't get out of the car. They knew how to use insurance and the courts.

 

[MissGotRocks]

The financial crime trials will be interesting, and will probably shed some light on where all that money went. I believe they did own several properties, and that would require property taxes and upkeep, but still... Add to that, a lavish lifestyle, buying admissions to universities they couldn't legitimately get into, and drug habit(s?.)

Alex and the entire family dynasty (spoiled children for generations) reminds me of the people who win multi-million lotteries and within a few years are poor and in debt. I don't believe this sketchy behavior was invented by Alex. He was taught that this was how they did business and "fixed" mistakes. There was a witness who said that Alex's father Randolph came to the hospital after the boat accident, and led the cover-up. And I'm sure Randolph learned from someone too. Randolph Murdaugh I (Alex's Great-Grandfather) died in a car/train accident and the family sued the train company for 2 million (in today's value) because the train was not able to stop, and he didn't get out of the car. They knew how to use insurance and the courts.

I agree. All of their ‘fixing’ had been going on for years. Not sure if Alex’s father took money from the firm but who knows? Today things are better tracked than they were back then. However, there clearly was a lack of oversight within the firm regarding incoming fees and disbursements. Someone assumed that payments to Forge were the same as Forge Consulting or whatever but they weren’t. Their internal auditing left a bit to be desired! The financial lady that testified in the trial was clearly angry and bitter that it had happened but did her trust in the partners override her responsibility in it all. I assume much has changed now. There were checks written to his cousin Eddie in various versions of his name. He was cashing them and being able to hold a portion of the money for his ‘services’. I guess Alex thought this stuff would never be uncovered or he was in too deep with whatever force was taking the money so he just never stopped. Greed can be an ugly monster indeed. His admission of lying in the Satterfield case makes you scratch your head. I doubt that his desire to now be honest trumps his desire to trip up attorneys that benefitted from the case is at play. If he is on fire, let’s burn down the whole ship. He clearly has nothing left to lose and maybe some revenge makes him sleep better at night.

 

[RMOO]

Someone assumed that payments to Forge were the same as Forge Consulting or whatever but they weren’t

I believe Alex did this intentionally. It is my opinion that he opened the account (at a bank with whom he was well known) in the name Forge because he had seen checks written out that way (people do it all the time, don't put the full name of entities on checks) and he knew that would confuse the firm into thinking the proper entity was being paid, and yet allow him to "legally" deposit the check into his account without it catching the attention of the bank. He played both sides.

And speaking of the bank, I personally do not believe Alex's testimony that the bank guy (was he a VP? I mean everyone is a VP at a bank) had no idea what was happening. I mean WHY would a bank waive the overdraft fee on an account that was 300k in arrears? The had to be getting something out of the deal.

 

[MissGotRocks]

I believe Alex did this intentionally. It is my opinion that he opened the account (at a bank with whom he was well known) in the name Forge because he had seen checks written out that way (people do it all the time, don't put the full name of entities on checks) and he knew that would confuse the firm into thinking the proper entity was being paid, and yet allow him to "legally" deposit the check into his account without it catching the attention of the bank. He played both sides.

And speaking of the bank, I personally do not believe Alex's testimony that the bank guy (was he a VP? I mean everyone is a VP at a bank) had no idea what was happening. I mean WHY would a bank waive the overdraft fee on an account that was 300k in arrears? The had to be getting something out of the deal.

Yes, it was absolutely intentional and it was working. No telling how much longer it could have continued working. He had already screwed up though with the 792k check that he had written to him by an associate attorney. He gave that guy some song and dance about it needing to be written to him instead of his firm. He ended up sending 600k back to him and that attorney had to cough up 192k to make the account correct - out of his own personal money. You can only imagine how angry that guy was as he trusted Alex and they had been good friends. He screwed over anyone - friend or foe. That is the point when the comptroller of the firm starting questioning and that was the day of the murders. Anyone that was working with him and receiving funds (except for the aforementioned attorney) was in on it. The banker was convicted and others will follow I am sure. Alex was fired from the firm, lost his law license and everything else he owned. His wife and son were killed for nothing. He thought he had the perfect plan; it all backfired on him.

 

[Ionysis]

It makes you wonder how many other families like this there around. Not murderers, obviously! But these people who given their supposed “pedigree” come to believe that the normal rules of law and society don’t apply to them. It’s really quite scary.