Russell Laffitte has been charged with wire fraud, bank fraud, and the ever popular “conspiracy”.
Mr. Laffitte used to be the CEO of Palmetto State Bank: he got canned back in January.
The whole thing centers around two sisters who got a settlement back in 2005. Mr. Laffitte was their conservator, Alex Murdaugh was their lawyer, and…
Laffitte allegedly schemed with the disgraced lawyer to pillage the girls’ accounts and steal $355,000 for himself and $990,000 for Murdaugh, court documents said.
He also misused bank funds to give Murdaugh an unauthorized $750,000 loan for “beach house renovations and expenses” and sent $680,000 of the bank’s money to pay back a debt Murdaugh had illegally transferred to him, according to the grand jury.
In addition, Laffitte earned nearly $400,000 for supposedly safeguarding the Plyler sister’s money, according to the document. He had allegedly been in cahoots with Murdaugh to steal from the girls since 2011 and faces 30 years in prison if convicted.
(Sorry about using the NYPost for this, but I actually could not find coverage of this story in the South Carolina newspapers.)