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Alex Murdaugh facing new criminal charges

According to prosecutors, the alleged crimes took place in the years 2020 and 2021.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Attorney General's Office said it is going after convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh on new charges of tax evasion.

Attorney General Alan Wilson's office said Tuesday a state grand jury issued an indictment against Murdaugh on two counts of willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax.

According to prosecutors, the alleged crimes took place in the years 2020 and 2021. The indictment said Murdaugh failed to report $2,113,067 of income earned through illegal acts, which mean he didn't report $132,572 of state taxes. 

Murdaugh has been indicted last December on charges of tax evasion for the years 2011 through 2019. That said that he failed to report over $6.9 million in income made during illegal acts. 

Murdaugh is facing a total of 20 indictments and 101 charges related to alleged schemes to defraud victims of over $8.7 million. Prosecutors have said he took much of the money from clients who thought they were getting money from settlements negotiated by his law firm. 

In March, a jury convicted Murdaugh, 54, of killing his wife Maggie and adult son Paul on June 7, 2021 at the family's large estate in Colleton County following a six-week trial.  It took the 12 men and women just three hours to render their decision.

A day later, Judge Newman sentenced Murduagh to two consecutive life sentences for his crime. Murdaugh has appealed that decision. 

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called “Little Detective” for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

Testimony culminated in Murdaugh’s appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Murdaugh is currently serving time at an undisclosed South Carolina prison under protective custody. 

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