Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer convicted of murdering his wife and son, has been sentenced to 27 more years in prison for financial crimes.
He pleaded guilty to 22 counts earlier this month relating to fraud and money laundering.
Murdaugh was confronted in court by his fraud victims on Tuesday, with one telling him: “Do you not have a soul?”
As his victims spoke, he appeared to listen closely as he sat in the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit.
Murdaugh is already serving two life sentences without parole for the two murders.
State prosecutors say his plea agreement resolved 101 financial-related charges and a loss of $8.8m (£6.9m) among those affected by Murdaugh’s schemes.
Murdaugh also stole millions from his law firm and avoided paying hundreds of thousands in state income taxes.
Much of the stolen money was used by Murdaugh to pay off personal expenses such as loans and credit card debt.
In one case, he took a “luxury trip” and billed his client for the expense of it, prosecutors told the courtroom on Tuesday.
Several victims of Murdaugh’s financial deception appeared in court for his sentencing hearing in Beaufort, South Carolina.
They included family of the Murdaugh’s housekeeper, who died following a “trip and fall accident” at the Murdaugh home.
Housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s adult sons were supposed to receive life insurance money from the accident.
Instead, prosecutors said Murdaugh had the roughly $3.5m from the claim directed to an account he used. Her family received nothing.
Tony, one of Satterfield’s sons, told Murdaugh that his Christian faith obliged him to forgive him for his crimes.
“You lied. You cheated. You stole. You betrayed me and my family and everyone else,” said Mr Satterfield.
Her sister, Ginger Harriott Hadwin, said the housekeeper had loved the Murdaughs as if they were “her own family”.
“To have her loyalty and love and her trust betrayed by you is very hard to understand,” she told him. “I just don’t understand. Did you not have a soul?”
Many of the people he stole from were clients who had come to him for help after family members were injured or killed at work or in car accidents.
Victims include a woman who says she was defrauded by Murdaugh twice, once after a 2010 car accident that left her son paralysed and again after her son’s death.
Another victim was a man who was injured in a 2011 car accident that killed his wife.
In each instance, Murdaugh intercepted proceeds from insurance claims and deposited them into personal accounts, prosecutors said. Some of the money he stole was being held to pay for his clients’ medical expenses.
Addressing the victims who spoke on Tuesday, Murdaugh told them: “I hate the things that I did.”
“Despite the things that I did, I care about each one of you. I did terrible things,” he said.
Murdaugh was a well-known lawyer in South Carolina who ran his family’s personal injury law firm for decades.
The financial crimes came to light during his double murder trial.
Murdaugh was convicted in March of killing his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, ending a weeks-long trial that captured the nation’s attention and spawned multiple documentaries, podcasts and more.
During the murder trial, prosecutors argued he killed his wife and son to divert attention from his financial crimes and gain sympathy.
Since his conviction, Murdaugh has faced multiple civil lawsuits from victims attempted to claim stolen funds. He is also awaiting sentencing on federal charges of financial fraud.
Before issuing the sentence on Tuesday, Judge Clifton Newman said that, after his murder trial and other legal troubles, Murdaugh still remains an “enigma”. He called his crimes “unimaginable”.
Murdaugh is appealing the murder conviction. His lawyers have said the court clerk on the case engaged in jury tampering, which the clerk has denied.
By BBC
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