HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The family of one of Alex Murdaugh’s alleged financial victims has indicated in a new court filing that a lawsuit is coming against Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, regarding the family’s more than $800,000 in missing settlement money.
The filing Monday in Hampton County civil court lays the groundwork for a lawsuit, listing several properties associated with Laffitte that the family of Hakeem Pinckney would have claim to should a forthcoming lawsuit rule in their favor. The lawsuit will be filed within 20 days, the document states.
Pinckney, a quadriplegic Hampton man, was represented by Murdaugh before he died. Criminal charges accuse Murdaugh of stealing settlement money meant for the disabled man. Laffitte served in a legal role meant to oversee those funds and collected a fee for that work.
The legal action was undertaken after Laffitte, who was made bank CEO in 2020 then unceremoniously removed after reports of his ties to Murdaugh’s victims came to light, listed his Varnville home for sale at $549,900 on April 13.
“You saw Alex Murdaugh try to do this. People trying to waste assets because they know they’re exposed to claims,” said attorney and state Rep. Justin Bamberg, who is representing the Pinckney family, in an interview. “Instead of taking care of victims which should be the No. 1 priority, they’re trying to self-preserve ... and that’s not right.”
Laffitte’s lawyers, Matt Austin and Bart Daniels, of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Charleston, declined to comment Tuesday.
Hakeem Pinckney, a deaf Hampton man and aspiring football player, sustained injuries in a 2009 car wreck that left him quadriplegic.
Hakeem’s cousin, Natarsha Thomas, and his mother, Pamela Pinckney, were also injured in the crash. Murdaugh represented the Pinckney family by helping them secure a substantial settlement against the tire company.
Indictments from earlier this year accuse now-jailed Murdaugh, from a South Carolina legal dynasty, of defrauding the family by stealing from settlement money intended for them.
In December 2011, Murdaugh wrote a $309,581.46 check from money meant for the disabled man and used it to buy money orders to pay off his own debts and obtain cash for himself and a family member, indictments said. Murdaugh also allegedly took $350,000 in settlement money meant for Natarsha Thomas.
Additionally, he persuaded Pamela Pinckney to hire a lawyer friend of his, recently indicted Cory Fleming, years after the settlement. The indictments said Murdaugh had Fleming write a check for $89,133.44 from money meant for Pamela Pinckney to him, which he converted for personal use.
Laffitte served as a conservator for Hakeem Pinckney and Natarsha Thomas. A conservator is a legal designation usually reserved for close family members who oversee the finances of minors or incapacitated individuals who receive a large sum of money.
The thefts happened under Laffitte’s watch, according to Bamberg. Laffitte “received ill-gotten ‘Conservator Fees,’” in both cases, the document alleges.
Laffitte received a check for $60,000 from Hakeem Pinckney’s settlement money and a fee from Thomas’ settlement , an amount that has not been discovered yet, Bamberg said.
As a result, Bamberg said he is planning to file a lawsuit on behalf of the Pinckneys against Laffitte, Murdaugh, Fleming and Fleming’s former law firm. Murdaugh’s former law firm, previously known as PMPED, has reimbursed missing funds to the Pinckney family, he said. Palmetto State Bank has not.
Laffitte has not been indicted. Murdaugh and Fleming have.
Laffitte’s lawyers said in a previous statement that he “has been fully cooperating with authorities since the outset of the investigation and will continue cooperating.”
Monday’s filing takes specific issue with Laffitte listing his property for sale.
“He’s going to sell a property that benefited from my client’s money that they still haven’t gotten back and do what with it? Keep it to pay lawyers?” Bamberg said. “His problems aren’t any more important than my clients.”
The 3-acre, brick-lined property in Varnville has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a large yard and pool, according to the listing.
The other properties listed in the court filings are vacant lots, some of which hold timber, Bamberg said. The timber lots serve as a kind of passive income for landowners in rural South Carolina, Bamberg said.
Laffitte’s role in the Murdaugh saga has not been fully enumerated.
The Hampton banker served as conservator for some clients that Murdaugh and his former law firm represented.
Three months ago, the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers discovered a suspicious transaction buried in probate court filings for an Estill teenager in 2011, when Laffitte loaned Murdaugh $40,000 from the teen’s settlement funds. Murdaugh never represented the teenager, but his firm did.
The unsecured loan had no description what it was for, and it was returned to the account within a month and three days.
Just like the conservator fees for Pinckney and Thomas, Laffitte did not have a hearing with a probate judge to approve the transaction. That is something conservators should do, lawyers told the newspapers, as a best practice when managing another person’s money.
However, conservators have wide latitude “(to) invest and manage trust assets as a prudent investor would,” according to state law.
Bamberg said it’s clear from the Estill teenager’s case that Laffitte knew right from wrong.
From the money meant for Malik Williams, now 27 years old with his own landscaping business, Laffitte acted properly as a conservator for the most part — even seeking court approval for his mother’s request to use the money to buy Air Jordan shoes for Williams’ birthday, according to documents.
Bamberg said it confused him Laffitte could hold a hearing to buy Air Jordans, but not for a loan to Murdaugh and not for conservator fees paid in the Pinckney case.
“Nobody is going to convince me that Russell Laffitte didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to do that and doing that was wrong,” Bamberg said. “Because he knew how to do it. And the file from Malik Williams ... shows that he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing and how.”
