Case study · Expert witness and litigation supportAlex Murdaugh’s financial crimes: how forensic accounting became evidence.
A lawyer stole millions from clients through a fake account. Prosecutors used that record to argue motive in his murder trial, and in 2026 the state Supreme Court warned that they had gone far too long and far too deep. What expert financial evidence should, and should not, do in court.
By Geoff Davis, Fraud Examination ServiceFacts current to November 10, 202610 min read
Fraud Examination Service had no role in this matter. Murdaugh’s murder convictions have been vacated and he is presumed innocent of those charges pending retrial. This case study concerns the financial crimes, to which he pleaded guilty, and the courts’ treatment of the financial evidence.
A law firm, a fake account and a reckoning.
Alex Murdaugh was a lawyer at a long-established South Carolina firm. On the morning of June 7, 2021, the firm’s chief financial officer confronted him about $792,000 in missing fees; a hearing was also pending that could have compelled disclosure of his finances, according to the state Supreme Court.1 His wife and son were killed that night.
In September 2021 the firm said he had misappropriated funds and that it would hire an accounting firm to review its books.3 Federal prosecutors later established a decade of theft: a fake account named “Forge,” opened in 2015 to imitate a legitimate structured-settlement company, through which stolen settlements ran from 2017 to 2021, with Murdaugh its only signer.2
He was convicted of the murders in March 2023.4 He then pleaded guilty to the financial crimes in federal and state court.2,6 In May 2026 the state Supreme Court vacated the murder convictions; the financial convictions were not affected.1,5
From missing fees to a new trial.
Key dates from the court record, prosecutors’ releases and contemporaneous reporting.
Confronted over fees
The firm’s CFO raises $792,000 in missing fees.
Resignation
The firm says he misappropriated funds and orders an accounting review.
Murder verdict
A jury convicts him after a six-week trial.
Federal plea
Guilty to 22 federal financial crimes.
State plea and sentence
Guilty to 22 state counts; 27 years in state prison.
Federal sentence
40 years, concurrent with the state sentences.
Murder convictions vacated
The Supreme Court orders a new trial over jury interference.
Retrial scheduled
The case is set for trial in Sumter.
Four schemes, one fake account.
The Supreme Court’s opinion summarizes the financial crimes proven at trial as four schemes: fake case “expenses” billed to clients; firm checks made payable to Palmetto State Bank that the bank’s then-chief executive converted for Murdaugh; checks to the fake Forge account; and the theft of insurance proceeds meant for the family of the Murdaughs’ late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.1
In the Satterfield matter, the claims settled for $505,000 and $3.8 million. Three checks totalling $3,483,431.95 went to Forge, and the estate received nothing, according to federal prosecutors.2
State prosecutors described more than $12 million stolen over a decade from 18 victims; that figure is the prosecutor’s statement.
Source: U.S. Attorney, D.S.C.2; S.C. Supreme Court1; ABC News7
The schemes ran for years inside a law firm with a finance department and outside co-counsel. What exposed them was a fee that should have reached the firm and did not, and a CFO who asked about it.1
Financial evidence in a murder trial.
Prosecutors argued that the financial crimes were converging on June 7, 2021, and that the motive for the killings was to buy time. The trial judge first heard eight witnesses outside the jury’s presence, including the firm’s CFO, bank witnesses, co-counsel, former partners and Carson Burney, a forensic accountant in the Attorney General’s office.1
The judge then admitted all evidence of financial crimes that may likely have led to a motive, describing it as non-propensity evidence that did not suggest a tendency to commit murder, and issued a written order.1 Murdaugh admitted the financial crimes when he testified.1
This is the expert’s position in miniature. A forensic accountant can establish what happened to the money with precision. Whether that record is relevant, and how much of it a jury should hear, is a legal judgment the court makes about the evidence, not about the arithmetic.
Too long and too deep.
The Supreme Court reversed the murder convictions because the clerk of court had improperly interfered with the jury, applying a presumption of prejudice; it did not reverse because of the financial evidence.1 But because the case would be retried, the court gave guidance on what it called a thorny issue.1
- Relevant, and within discretion. The financial evidence was relevant, and admitting it at all was within the trial court’s discretion.1
- But far too much of it. The justices unanimously found that the State went far too long and far too deep, citing about 12.5 hours of testimony over ten days.1
- Some had no value at all. Testimony that a Satterfield family member is a vulnerable adult had, in the court’s words, zero probative value.1
- Efficiency on retrial. The evidence is not required to be admitted again, and if it is, it must be presented efficiently.1
The State went far too long and far too deep.Supreme Court of South Carolina, State v. Murdaugh, May 13, 20261
Attorney General Alan Wilson said the State will retry the murder case and that Murdaugh will remain in prison for his financial crimes.5 The retrial is set for April 2027 in Sumter, and whether the financial evidence will be admitted again had not been decided as of October 2026.8
Six lessons for financial experts and the lawyers who call them.
- 01
Lead with the decisive transactions
A handful of traced payments proves a scheme. Hours of detail can bury it.
- 02
Tie the money to the legal question
Motive, intent or loss: build the analysis around the element it must prove.
- 03
Cut what has no probative value
The court singled out testimony with zero probative value. Leave it out.
- 04
Plan for a proffer outside the jury
Expect to justify relevance to the judge before the jury hears a word.
- 05
Reconcile every source
Firm ledgers, bank records and settlement statements should agree before trial.
- 06
Watch trust accounts continuously
Random trust-account audits exist in only a minority of states, so firms must test their own.
How common is fiduciary theft?
The ACFE’s 2026 study found a median loss of $104,000 per case, rising above $1.1 million for schemes that ran more than five years, and losses caused by owners and executives more than nine times those caused by employees.9 For lawyers specifically, a 2026 New York City Bar report notes that an ABA survey found only 14 states reporting random trust-account audit programs, and that New York’s client protection fund approved 94 awards totalling $11.6 million in stolen client funds in 2024.10
Source: ACFE, Occupational Fraud 20269
Questions people ask.
Short answers drawn from the record. Each links back to the sources below.
Murdaugh pleaded guilty to 22 federal counts in September 2023 and 22 state counts in November 2023 for stealing from clients and his law firm, including settlement money routed through a fake “Forge” account he alone controlled. Federal restitution was set at about $8.76 million.
He received 27 years in state prison in November 2023 and 40 years in federal prison in April 2024, to run concurrently with the state sentences. Those convictions are unaffected by the 2026 ruling on his murder case.
On May 13, 2026, the court unanimously reversed the murder convictions because of improper interference with the jury by the Colleton County clerk of court. The ruling was not based on the financial evidence. A retrial is set for April 2027, and Murdaugh is presumed innocent of the murders.
The court said evidence of the financial crimes was relevant to motive and that admitting it was within the trial judge’s discretion, but that the State went far too long and far too deep, with about 12.5 hours of testimony over ten days. On retrial, any such evidence must be presented efficiently.
The Supreme Court’s opinion identifies Carson Burney, a forensic accountant in the South Carolina Attorney General’s office, among the witnesses heard on the financial evidence, along with the law firm’s chief financial officer and bank witnesses.
Sources and method.
Facts were checked against each source on November 10, 2026. The South Carolina Supreme Court opinion and the federal sentencing release are primary; amounts are taken from the court-ordered figures, and prosecutors’ statements are attributed as such.
- 1Supreme Court of South CarolinaState v. Murdaugh, Opinion No. 28329May 13, 2026
- 2U.S. Attorney, District of South CarolinaAlex Murdaugh sentenced to 40 years in prison for federal financial crimesApril 1, 2024
- 3NPR (Associated Press)Attorney whose wife and son were killed was stealing from his law firm, company saysSeptember 7, 2021
- 4South Carolina Attorney GeneralAttorney General Alan Wilson announces guilty verdict in State v. MurdaughMarch 2, 2023
- 5South Carolina Attorney GeneralAttorney General Alan Wilson to retry Murdaugh murdersMay 13, 2026
- 6Insurance Journal (Associated Press)Murdaugh pleads guilty to state financial crimesNovember 20, 2023
- 7ABC NewsAlex Murdaugh sentenced for financial crimesNovember 28, 2023
- 8The StateMurdaugh retrial set for Sumter in April 2027October 16, 2026
- 9Association of Certified Fraud ExaminersOccupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations (press release)May 19, 2026
- 10New York City Bar AssociationEvaluating trust account oversight mechanismsAugust 2026