Former Lowcountry banker Russell Lucius Laffitte has pleaded guilty and received sentencing on eight felony charges, following indictments by the South Carolina State Grand Jury. The charges stem from three separate indictments that also named former attorneys Richard Alexander Murdaugh and Cory Howerton Fleming.
Laffitte, who is 54 years old, served as Chief Executive Officer of Palmetto State Bank until his termination in January 2022. During his tenure, he was responsible for loaning millions of dollars to Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh arranged for Laffitte to be appointed as conservator or personal representative in several cases, resulting in nearly half a million dollars in payments to Laffitte for his “services.” This arrangement also gave Laffitte control over significant funds belonging to injured clients, which were used by both men as so-called “loans,” especially when Murdaugh needed money to pay other debts.
“In essence, Laffitte was responsible for loaning so much money to Murdaugh that Murdaugh became too big to fail,” said Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters, who prosecuted the case along with related cases involving Murdaugh and Fleming. “Alex was so much in hock to Russell that Russell was in hock to Alex.”
Court documents show that Laffitte admitted misappropriating $350,245.08 held in trust for Natarsha Thomas at Palmetto State Bank while acting as her conservator. Thomas was a minor at the time she suffered injuries from a car accident. Instead of protecting her interests, Laffitte took substantial fees and facilitated the theft of her funds.
In another indictment, Laffitte acknowledged misappropriating $309,581.46 held for Hakeem L. Pinckney and his estate. These actions allowed Murdaugh to repay loans made from client funds associated with another case where Laffitte served as conservator.
A third indictment involved $1,172,945.76 controlled by Laffitte at Palmetto State Bank for the benefit of the Badger family; these funds were similarly diverted so that Murdaugh could repay prior loans issued from client accounts under Laffitte’s fiduciary oversight.
On October 13, 2025, Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Laffitte to a total of 13 years: eight years’ imprisonment running concurrently with his federal sentence (with credit for time served), followed by five consecutive years in state prison—suspended upon completion of five years’ probation and 350 hours of community service. As part of the plea agreement, Laffitte paid $3,555,884.80 in restitution and agreed not to participate further with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The investigation was conducted through collaboration between the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office’s State Grand Jury Division and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division alongside other partners at various levels of government. Attorney General Alan Wilson expressed appreciation for all agencies involved: “Attorney General Wilson thanked all of the partner agencies for their hard work in the case.”
