Russell Laffitte, once a respected, well-to-do Lowcountry banker, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to six counts of bank-related thefts involving more than $3.5 million he stole with the notorious swindler and convicted killer Alex Murdaugh.
Laffitte’s plea before U.S. Judge Richard Gergel was the capstone of a three-year saga in which Laffitte was fired from his family-owned Palmetto State Bank, indicted by a federal grand jury for victimizing bank customers, asserted his innocence, stood trial and was found guilty, spent 14 months of a seven-year sentence in prison and won a new trial on appeal. The new trial was set to begin May 5.
Until this week, Laffitte, 54, had continued to cast himself as a gullible but innocent victim who allowed himself to be manipulated by the smooth-talking Murdaugh, a lawyer and major customer of the bank and lawyer. Murdaugh has already pleaded guilty in state and federal court to $10 million in financial frauds including those at Laffitte’s bank and elsewhere. Murdaugh was disbarred in 2022…