SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #5

[lonetraveler]

LOL. I was just trying to catch up on this thread and sitting here thinking about which investigative show would get this case on the air first!

Well, it can't be 48 hours, way too much time has passed. Dateline most likely.

 

[Data Sleuth]

Unexpected or not, I imagine she'd be upset about her husband being ill and being in the hospital.


This particular line of postings has become convoluted.

A poster said AM stopped to see his mother who was upset.

Then another poster was questioning if she'd really be upset since "everyone was still alive" at that point, and questioned if the hospitalization was expected.

And that's why I said a person can be upset about a loved one's illness and hospitalization whether or not it was expected. That was my only point.

Is it possible that the Patriarchs death was not from natural causes? Perhaps someone wanted him out of the picture and somehow the ill person was actually given an overdose or “snuffed out”?
Just based on my opinion, not accusing anyone.

 

[clearskies1]

Perhaps AM's career wasn't as lucrative or successful as it seemed. JMO.

 

[RAISINISBACK]

Blackmailers never decrease their demands.

Gambling would get him into a rough crowd, but I’d also think that would be harder to hide from friends and family.

One can’t help but wonder whether AM’s father ran a lot of interference for AM behind-the-scenes, as AM (with his father’s help) tried to do for PM.

All MOO.

I don't know about other forms of gambling but it's not that hard to hide money you lose in a casino. These days casinos are legitimate businesses there are no "rough characters" involved in the running of the casinos. Some people lose thousands in one night in casinos and successfully hide it from spouses and family. Especially if the spouse lets the other partner handle all the finances which happens in many families.

Blackmail is another matter.

JMO

 

[zencompass]

FWIW, I am a Certified Public Accountant and have taken dozens of continuing professional education courses on fraud as well as assisted on several engagements concerning fraud.

There are many ways to perpetrate fraud, so it is only pure speculation at this point as to how AM was able to embezzle millions of dollars from his firm. The exact method depends on what internal controls had to be circumvented (if any) in order to perpetrate the fraud and what role the family played in the internal accounting of the firm. I have seen firsthand cases where small practices entrust an owning member of their practice with accounting responsibilities, even though they have no accounting background, in order to avoid having to pay an outside accounting firm for accounting services other than payroll processing and annual tax return preparation.

If AM or another family member were in charge of the day-to-day accounting responsibilities with little to no oversight, it would be easy for him to circumvent controls and take millions over the course of months or years (most likely) without anyone being the wiser. Methods of fraud in these circumstance may include writing out checks to false vendors or straight to himself, if so bold; opening up a secret bank account in the firm’s name, directly depositing funds or transferring funds from the firm’s main business account to that account, and drawing on those funds for personal use; or misusing a firm-issued purchasing (or credit) card.

I really hope that the forensic accountants’ report will be made public so that we can eventually learn what happened, though I suspect that it will remain private. In many cases, fraud like this ends up being resolved outside of the criminal courts because small practices want to avoid the public scandal. Of course, this is already a public scandal, so…

All MOO.

Thank you @Countem for your important insights. Greatly appreciated!

I'd love to hear your thoughts concerning a situation where a lawyer has been "diverting lawyer fees from the firm".

Have you ever heard of this?

Thank you in advance,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/07/south-carolina-murdaugh-murders-resignation/

"Attorney Jim Griffin confirmed to The Post that Murdaugh had been accused of “diverting lawyer fees from the firm.”

 

[stattlich1]

From the article:
“No hours were recorded by the Solicitor’s Office to account for how much work they did for the agency. Kidd said that was because the relationship was informal, and the Murdaughs did not prosecute many cases.”

The Solicitor’s Office apparently doesn’t know what cases were prosecuted (or supported) by their soon-to-be-disbarred volunteer attorney with an admitted longstanding addiction (rumored to be opioids) and accusations of embezzlement. AM served as volunteer solicitor since his father, RM, retired in 2005.

That’s why one keeps track of who worked which cases, even if they are “volunteers.”

Fascinating stuff. No records. Who does this, and why?

 

[girlhasnoname]

There are no land based casinos in South Carolina, there are a few gambling 'boats' in the Myrtle Beach area. I don't know how feasible it would be for AM to have a huge gambling addiction.

JMO

 

[MrsWatson]

The missing funds may be something as simple as a string of bad investments or just living beyond their means. They seemed to live quite an affluent lifestyle with multiple large dwellings and all those cost to run and furnish and maintain. In addition to two sons in college and one with various legal woes.

MOO

 

[PrairieWind]

Good question? Didn’t they have accounting safeguards in place? Most large law firms would have. IMO.

Most all firms have safeguards in place to some degree. Of course, in a small firm, that can be difficult, but I would think easier to detect. I am interested to see what money was alleged to be taken, from trust account or operating account or if this was money skimmed before it made it to a firm account. There are various ways I could see it happening, mostly because of past occurrences I have heard of.

 

[sunshineray]

Follow up question.
Forgive my ignorance.
Where was the husband/father when his wife and son were murdered in their vacation home?

Supposedly taking his terminally ill father to the hospital then leaving hospital and stopping back at his parent's home to check on his Mom who has Alzheimers.

 

[Luna20]

Anyone remember when the housekeepers suit was settled? Is it correct that Richard was the only one listed on it?

 

[evilwise]

Hypothetically, I wonder how much it would cost in bribes to keep your kids from getting criminally charged after they've killed three people. Hypothetically.

 

[Dexxie8]

Wow! This is Crazzzzzy!!! This is like a damn novel that you can’t put down. I just can’t for the life of me figure out who killed MM & SM and why. I’ve tossed around every different angle and nothing makes sense but the case that the police reopened must have something to do with the murders. Oh…and a 52 year old on Oxy’s! What?!?! Must be pretty hard to function at that age on that type of serious drug. Man oh man.

 

[MerryB]

Hypothetically, I wonder how much it would cost in bribes to keep your kids from getting criminally charged after they've killed three people. Hypothetically.

Millions.

 

[Cryptic]

Hypothetically speaking, how long does it take to “steal” millions? Was this prior to or because of the murders? It seems like a cause vs reaction debate, IMO. Someone like me would need a long timespan to embezzle money amounts outside of my lifestyle bracket but maybe a few months (?) if I live/spend like AM? Also, does he not have his own money from his job and 3 recent life insurance policies or are those in waiting bc COD in 2 was homicide?

As Raisenback illustrated, it depends on the cash flow of the business.

I am guessing that advertisements of mega million dollar verdicts aside (mean nothing in the end), this firm's cash flow might have been declining for quite some time.

There is a lot of competition from other Sue'em firms for truly viable suits targeting large companies. The state also limited the reach of the lawsuit machine regarding out of county, but still in SC cases. Car accident shake downs and "slipped and fell at Marge's" bring in steady cash, but I am thinking the needed volume is'nt there in rural SC.

So.... following Raisenback's lead, less cash flow means more needed time to embezzle large amounts- unless the thief gets reckless.

I am guessing that the firm partners and even part time attorneys on the periphery know in general terms how the firm was doing simply by studying local court dockets for volume and truly juicy cases (or the lack of both). Big uhmm.... "withdrawals" would probably get noticed.

In the end, I think the embezzler was taking relatively (key word) small amounts over a period of time.

 

[PrairieWind]

Wow! This is Crazzzzzy!!! This is like a damn novel that you can’t put down. I just can’t for the life of me figure out who killed MM & SM and why. I’ve tossed around every different angle and nothing makes sense but the case that the police reopened must have something to do with the murders. Oh…and a 52 year old on Oxy’s! What?!?! Must be pretty hard to function at that age on that type of serious drug. Man oh man.

Its starting to sound like a John Grisham novel. I really hadn't followed this much, but now i'm trying to catch up.

 

[oviedo]

Fascinating stuff. No records. Who does this, and why?

IMO the good old boy network ….

 

[ReillyElizabeth]

Hypothetically, I wonder how much it would cost in bribes to keep your kids from getting criminally charged after they've killed three people. Hypothetically.

I don't know, but his son was criminally charged in Mallory Beach's death, and there is nothing but rumor connecting him to the death of the housekeeper. I suspect most of the money was spent on their fairly lavish lifestyle, his opioid addiction, and what have to be quite significant attorneys fees. He's been paying fees for more than two years to multiple attorneys representing PM in the criminal case and himself and BM in the civil case. The legal fees alone are probably well into the multiple six figures.

 

[stattlich1]

IMO the good old boy network ….

Ya, methinks my vision in this case is becoming clearer.

 

[sunshineray]

If a divorce proceeds to litigation, both can proceed with discovery in my state. IMO the firm's books are fair game if he is a partner. I wonder how this was handled legally since there was no divorce filed....

JMO

Oh I never thought of that. If there was a divorce in the works, would her lawyers be able to ask for an audit of the law firm? Is that how this all started, Then when things started showing up MM 's lawyers told her to hire a forensic accountant to go over her family's finances too?

It brings to mind The Beach case too. Didn't AM and BM refuse to give their financials? It was yet to be ruled on?