Murdaugh-linked ex-banker Laffitte hires new SC lawyers to fight fraud conviction

Russell Laffitte, the disgraced Hampton banker found guilty in November of six counts of federal bank-related fraud, has hired two new lawyers as he seeks to appeal his case.

The hiring of criminal defense lawyer Mark Moore, a former federal prosecutor, and his associate, Michael Parente, were made public in a new court filing Sunday. Both work for Columbia-based Nexsen Pruet.

Moore and Parente filed their first motion in the case Sunday — a supplemental motion for a new trial, an action that Laffitte’s previous lawyers had already begun. Their motion requests that certain material concerning jurors who sat on the case be kept under seal.

Moore confirmed to The State newspaper Monday that he had filed a notice of appearance in the case but declined further comment.

“All future pleadings and correspondence” in the case should be sent to Moore and Parente, their motion says.

Moore especially has the reputation of being a tenacious legal pit bull, according to lawyers who have seen him in action. He is one of the few S.C. defense lawyers who has actually beat federal prosecutors in a jury trial.

In 2018, Moore was part of a three-lawyer team that convinced a Pee Dee federal jury that fraud charges against their chiropractor clients were flawed. When Moore retired in 2013, his fellow prosecutors gave him a plaque that said, in part, “Takes no prisoners.”

There was no word on what role, if any, Laffitte’s previous lawyers — lead lawyer Bart Daniel, Matt Austin and Josh Myers who handled Laffitte’s three-week trial — would play from now on. All three work for Nelson Mullins, a rival firm to Nexsen Pruet.

Daniel could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

Daniel and Austin had filed notices with the court that they would be traveling out of the country over the holidays and would not be back until after Jan. 4.

Lawyers Moore and Parente are coming on board to help Laffitte in the midst of a growing legal controversy over the way the former banker’s federal trial ended in November.

Questions have been raised about how Laffitte’s trial team handled a last-minute jury snafu that resulted in two jurors being tossed by Judge Richard Gergel when he determined, after interviewing them away from the courtroom, they were no longer able to continue serving.

The jury had been deliberating some nine hours, and it was nearly 9 p.m. in the Charleston federal courthouse.

After Gergel removed the two jurors and put two alternate jurors on the panel, it took the newly constituted jury less than an hour to bring back guilty verdicts on Laffitte on all counts.

Gergel’s removal of the two jurors kicked off a post-trial legal battle, with Laffitte’s lawyers Daniel and Austin filing motions for a new trial because, they assert, Gergel’s actions were improper. They also argue one of the ejected jurors was likely holding out for Laffitte, a stance which had it continued would have produced a hung jury.

Federal prosecutors have filed opposing motions, saying the verdict should stand and Gergel’s actions were proper.

Laffitte’s trial had a broad audience because of the former banker’s extensive ties with jailed former South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, whose name was mentioned throughout the trial and who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the various bank fraud charges.

Trial evidence showed Laffitte and Murdaugh cooperated in the unorthodox movement of millions of dollars of client trust funds from Murdaugh’s former law firm to Laffitte’s bank, both located in Hampton. Both profited from the money transfers, evidence showed.

Laffitte took the witness stand at his trial for more than five hours to explain to the jury that he did no wrong. After the jury found him guilty, neither Laffitte nor his lawyers commented.

A state grand jury has indicted Murdaugh of stealing more than $8 million from clients, law partners and others in various allegedly illegal schemes Murdaugh also goes on trial Jan 23 in Colleton County for double murder in the June 2021 fatal shootings of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie.

This story was originally published January 2, 2023 at 9:08 AM.