SC judge to decide next week whether Alex Murdaugh can keep control of cash, other assets

A South Carolina judge is expected to rule next week whether disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh can keep control of his cash and assets.

Judge Dan Hall said Friday in Chesterfield County he will issue an opinion next week on whether to freeze Murdaugh’s assets or appoint a receiver who would make decisions about how Murdaugh’s money is handled.

Hall made the statement at the end of a 55-minute hearing at the Chesterfield County Courthouse where attorney Mark Tinsley, who represents Mallory Beach’s estate, urged the judge to freeze Murdaugh’s assets and appoint a receiver.

The Beach estate is suing Murdaugh and other defendants in connection with the young woman’s death in a 2019 boat crash. Tinsley said he doesn’t want Murdaugh’s assets to disappear in the event of a resolution of the case that results in Murdaugh having to pay money to the Beach estate.

Murdaugh, though his attorney Dick Harpootlian, has claimed to be broke. If Murdaugh really doesn’t have any money, Tinsley asked Hall Friday, “What would be the harm to enjoin him from spending?”

Three lawyers, including Tinsley, filed motions last week seeking to prevent Murdaugh or his sole surviving son, Buster, from disposing of any of Murdaugh’s financial or property assets without approval by a judge.

Their motions also requested that attorneys Peter McCoy and John T. Lay be appointed co-receivers.

The motions were made in three separate Hampton County lawsuits naming Murdaugh as a defendant.

They asked that a judge appoint a receiver — or financial overseer — to oversee Murdaugh’s assets and track his previous spending. Lawyers also requested an immediate injunction to stop Murdaugh and Buster from spending any of Murdaugh’s money or selling any property, and asked that money be given back to any people or companies that Murdaugh may have spent.

Already, some of Murdaugh’s money “has been transferred to unknown locations,” Tinsley said.

Recently, Tinsley said, Murdaugh gave power of attorney rights to Buster. Tinsley said Buster used it to sell his father’s share in the Green Swamp Hunt Club for some $250,000. Buster also used $970,000 of his father’s money to pay off a mortgage, Tinsley said.

Murdaugh, who is now in jail on a charge of stealing millions of dollars from the estate of his late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, has also been accused by his former law firm, PMPED, of stealing millions of dollars from clients and his former partners.

“They are converting assets to cash” and allowing assets to continue to be liquidated, which could do “irreparable harm” to the Beach estate’s ability to collect damages from the Murdaughs down the road, Tinsley said.

Murdaugh and his son are defendants in the Beach lawsuit.

“Once it is converted to cash, we have no way to attach (file a legal claim) it,” said Tinsley, who called Murdaugh a “very sophisticated criminal.”

“They’ve clearly shown an intent to secret away the assets, to sell the assets,” Tinsley said.

SC lawyers request receivers

Included in the lawyers’ requests to Hall, they are asking for an independent, outside representative to oversee the assets.

The receiver would also have the power to spend money to protect real property Murdaugh owns, such as upkeep on Murdaugh’s unoccupied Edisto house to make sure it is in good working order, Tinsley said.

Money paid to the receivers from the assets they collect may reduce the total amount available to pay out to Murdaugh’s victims, Tinsley said.

“I would rather receive a portion of those assets than all of nothing,” he added.

Opposing Tinsley Friday was Murdaugh’s attorney John Tiller, who told the judge that the idea of freezing Murdaugh’s assets and appointing a receiver to handle those assets is all but unprecedented in this kind of case.

Although Tinsley has made a number of assertions about the Murdaugh family’s alleged negligence in Beach’s death, Tiller told the judge that none has been proven.

For example, he said, it has not been proven who was driving the boat the night it crashed into pilings near Beaufort, Tiller said.

Most evidence made available so far indicates Paul Murduagh, Murdaugh’s younger son, was driving the boat that night and was intoxicated. Paul Murdaugh was found shot to death in June.

“The fact that they (the Beach estate) may have difficulty collecting on a potential judgment is not proper justification in issuing an injunction in this case,” Tiller said. “There is no property in dispute here. This is a court suit for money damages; it doesn’t involve property.”

If Hall were to grant Tinsley’s requests, that would “open that box” where many plaintiffs who sued for money damages would then start asking for assets to be frozen and receivers to be appointed, Tiller said.

Both lawyers — McCoy and Lay — whom Tinsley wants to appoint as co-receivers were in court Friday but did not speak. Tinsley said they would be paid a portion of what they collected in assembling Murdaugh’s holdings.

Attorneys joining Tinsley in his bid to freeze Murdaugh’s assets and appoint a receiver are Joe McCulloch, who represents Connor Cook, a passenger in the boat crash that killed Beach, and Eric Bland, who represents the heirs of the Satterfield estate, from which millions of dollars were alleged to be stolen by Murdaugh.

Before Friday, Hall ruled on one motion in the case in early October in Lexington County.

He denied a motion to move a trial to Beaufort County from Hampton County by Greg Parker, who owns chain of convenience stores that sold alcohol to Paul and his friends the night Beach died.

This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 1:20 PM.