Former banker Russell Lucius Laffitte, aged 54, from Estill, South Carolina, has entered a guilty plea in federal court to charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and three counts of misapplying bank funds.
Ben Garner, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division, stated, “Russell Laffitte and Alex Murdaugh abused their positions of power to victimize people who trusted them. As of today, both have pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for their crimes in federal court. We appreciate the exhaustive work of our partners at the FBI, SLED, and South Carolina Attorney General’s Office to ensure justice for Laffitte and Murdaugh’s victims.”
Laffitte held positions as an officer and executive at Palmetto State Bank in Hampton, South Carolina. His co-conspirator, Alex Murdaugh, worked as a personal injury attorney at a Hampton law firm.
In his plea, Laffitte admitted to agreeing to serve as conservator and personal representative for some of Murdaugh’s clients, leveraging these roles for personal financial gain. From 2011, he and Murdaugh took loans from conservator accounts managed by Laffitte without disclosing them to the conservatees.
Murdaugh devised a plan to divert client funds, directing firm employees to make client checks payable to Palmetto State Bank. These checks matched amounts indicated in clients’ disbursement sheets. Laffitte, serving as conservator for Murdaugh’s clients, knew these funds were intended for the bank, but redirected them for Murdaugh's benefit, conducting nine transactions under these pretenses.
Laffitte also facilitated the structuring of transactions from another client’s funds for Murdaugh. In another case, Laffitte facilitated 12 transactions worth $1,325,000, directing the funds for Murdaugh’s personal use, including loan repayment and personal purchases, despite knowing these were client funds.
Laffitte collected $75,000 as conservator fees and $35,000 in personal representative fees, deliberately not reporting this income on his tax returns to conceal it. He also structured dodging reporting requirements and did not file suspicious activity reports.
In 2015, he misused bank funds, transferring over $284,000 from a farming line of credit to repay Murdaugh’s conservator loans. Two other incidents occurred: In July 2021, authorizing a $750,000 loan for beach house renovations, he redirected $750,000 with transactions masking non-related expenses. By October 2021, the law firm unearthed Murdaugh's client theft, and Laffitte settled a $680,000 claim using bank funds illicitly.
A 2022 jury conviction on six charges for Laffitte was repealed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in late 2024. His plea deal requires $3,555,884.80 in restitution, banning him from involvement in federally insured banks, and offering a five-year sentence if he complies with all terms. The government will not file related charges upon compliance.
United States District Judge Richard M. Gergel received the guilty plea and will set sentencing later.
The investigative efforts were a collaboration among the FBI Columbia Field Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, with the prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Limehouse, Kathleen Stoughton, and Winston Holliday.