December 30- 2021
PMPED Recently Took $300K in Attorney Fees From Murdaugh’s Alleged Victim, Attorney Says
Another alleged victim says Murdaugh called them from rehab to discuss their settlement after his law license was suspended.
Former clients of
Alex Murdaugh not only haven’t been
“made whole” — as his attorneys had claimed in his Dec. 13
bond hearing — they are being revictimized by his former law firm as it seeks to repay the money he is accused of stealing, according to an attorney now representing two of Murdaugh’s alleged victims.
The attorney, S.C. Rep.
Justin Bamberg, told FITSNews on Monday that one of the alleged victims he is representing, from whom Murdaugh is accused of taking
$750,000 nearly two years ago, was recently charged a
$300,000 attorney fee by Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick when the firm returned the money to him.
That fee, Bamberg said, was money that Murdaugh allegedly stole two years ago from the firm and therefore is not something his client is obligated to repay.
“Attorney fees are always contractual in nature,” Bamberg said. “I can’t slap somebody today, and then try to have a relationship with them based on two years ago, before I slapped them. That’s not how life works. That’s not how business works, either.”
Bamberg said another former client of Murdaugh’s was threatened by one of PMPED’s attorneys after he informed the firm that he had retained outside counsel.
Also shocking … Bamberg said that Murdaugh contacted a former client to tell them that he had secured their settlement
after his law license was suspended and while he was in drug rehab.
“It’s so mind-boggling,” Bamberg said. “But at this point, you know, I think most people are of the position that nothing surprises them anymore.”
In a bold news release on Dec. 16, Bamberg called out the powerful Hampton law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, and attacked the good ole boy system that enabled Murdaugh’s alleged bad behavior.
“Murdaugh literally PMPED people’s pockets,” Bamberg, who grew up in a county just north of Hampton, said in the release. “Wrong is wrong, and men or businesses that have made millions a year since the time my great-grandfather was a sharecropper are no better than the guy who walks to work today just to make ends meet.”
The release even encouraged former clients of Murdaugh to contact Bamberg via a cheeky email address:
PMPEDmypockets@bamberglegal.com.
“Nobody likes a thief, and anyone who carelessly left the doors unlocked so the thief could walk inside without having to break a window first shouldn’t get a pass,”
Code:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
n June 2016, Murdaugh allegedly told his client [B][SIZE=5][U]Johnny Bush[/U][/SIZE][/B] — who had suffered “catastrophic injuries” in a vehicle accident — that he had spent [B]$100,000[/B] of his settlement money on accident reconstruction for Bush’s case. Instead, Murdaugh had a check written for [B]$95,000[/B] to “Forge,” under the guise that the money was for Bush’s “structured funds.” He then used the money for himself, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.
Two of Murdaugh’s 48 financial charges are related to Bush’s case — one for breach of trust and the other for using the computer for the purpose of committing a crime.
Bamberg told FITSNews on Monday that Bush, whom he is now representing, was contacted by law enforcement and told that Murdaugh had allegedly stolen a part of his settlement money.
Bush was able to get his [B]$95,000[/B] back from PMPED, Bamberg said, but the firm didn’t account for interest in repaying him the missing money.
“That doesn’t make anyone whole,” Bamberg said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Between February and July 2020, a man named
Christopher Anderson came to Alex Murdaugh for help. Anderson, of Hampton County, was hurt on the job and was supposed to receive a
$750,000 check for his injuries, according to court documents.
Through his “Forge account” Murdaugh stole the
$750,000 from Anderson and told him that the money was being held in an annuity account for structured settlements, according to the indictment.
When law enforcement informed Anderson about the alleged crime, he was able to get his money back from PMPED but less Murdaugh’s 40 percent fee.
“It blows my mind that under the eye of the firm, which owes a duty to this individual and others, that two years later, law enforcement tells them that they’re missing $750,000. And when they come in to get their money, because every penny of that belong to them, the firm who says they had nothing to do with anything takes a $300,000 legal fee. That is just not OK,” Bamberg said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bamberg also told FITSNews about two disturbing incidents he said happened to former clients of Murdaugh.
In one instance, when an attorney at the firm learned that a former client was now being represented by Bamberg, he called that person and finished the call by telling them “I’ll see you in court.”
“The client is like, ‘Well, what exactly do you mean by that?’ And it’s, ‘Yeah, the lawyer you got said he’s suing my firm, so I’ll see you in court,'” Bamberg said. “That’s not appropriate. That is indicative of part of the problem here. … That comment was received a certain way by my client. It did come off as though it was semi-intimidation slash ‘do you really want to do this?’ And that comment was reported to the appropriate authorities.”
In another incident, Bamberg said a former client of Murdaugh received a call from Murdaugh one week after he was allegedly shot in what he said was a “murder for hire” plot and days after it was announced that the state Supreme Court had suspended his license to practice law.
At the time, Murdaugh was allegedly detoxing in a rehab facility out of state.
Murdaugh was calling the client to tell her that he had secured a settlement for her case, Bamberg said.
“How? How?” Bamberg said about the alleged phone call from rehab. “It is literally mind-boggling.”
Bamberg told FITSNews that lawsuits against PMPED could be coming soon, which could include a class action suit.
“Ain’t nobody about to punk my clients,” Bamberg said.
