COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court has suspended the law license of prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh, whose wife and son were murdered earlier this year and whose law firm has accused him of taking money.
The Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday morning that said Murdaugh's license to practice law is suspended until further notice.
On Monday night, Murdaugh's longtime law firm, PMPED, issued a statement claiming Murdaugh misappropriated funds from the business. The firm said it will hire an accounting firm to fully review its books in the wake of Murdaugh's departure. It didn’t say how much money might be missing, but said Murdaugh was no longer associated with them in any way.
“This is disappointing news for all of us," the law firm said in a statement." Rest assured that our firm will deal with this in a straightforward manner. There’s no place in our firm for such behavior."
There is no known criminal investigation by law enforcement into the allegations made by the firm.
Murdaugh was injured Saturday when police say a bullet grazed his head as he changed a tire in an area of area of Old Salkehatchie Road near Varnville, South Carolina. Police say he claimed someone else fired the gunshot at him.
His wound was called "superficial" but he was taken to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia for treatment.
Two days after the shooting, Murdaugh announced he was going to rehab and that he resigned from his law firm. However, the law firm made it clear the allegations over the money was what led to the end of Murdaugh's tenure.
SLED is currently still investigating the deaths of Murdaugh’s 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul. According to the Associated Press, on June 7 Murdaugh found his wife and son shot several times outside a home on the family’s Colleton County land after checking on his seriously ill father.
No arrests have been made. Officers have offered only limited information in the case, and have not acknowledged if they've developed a suspect in the case.
Murdaugh has offered a $100,000 reward in that case.
Paul's death came as he was awaiting trial for boating under the influence and causing a 2019 crash that killed a 19-year-old woman. He had pleaded not guilty.
After the deaths of Paul and Maggie, state agents reopened an investigation into a hit-and-run death in 2015 in which the victim's mother allegedly believed Paul may have been involved.
However, according to the Associated Press, authorities haven't said why those cases were reopened.