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Alex Murdaugh trial: Who is Arthur Badger and what is his relationship with Murdaugh?

Alex Murdaugh is accused of murderering his wife and son along with stealing over $8 million in settlement funds from dozens of clients like Arthur Badger.

Grace Beahm AlfordREUTERS

The trial of Alex Murdaugh began in late January in which he is facing 71 indictments for breach of trust, forgery, money laundering and computer crime charges in addition to murdering his wife and son. The 53-year-old fourth generation of a prominent legal family in tiny Hampton County, South Carolina is accused of stealing almost $8.5 million from dozens of clients in wrongful death and accident settlements as well as family and law partners.

One of his alleged victims is Arthur Badger, who was injured in a car accident in January 2011 and in which his wife, Donna Badger, was killed. The widower was left the single parent of six children. Murdaugh is accused of stealing over $1.3 million from the estate of the deceased 35-year-old Allendale woman meant for her surviving family.

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Badger’s estate converted into money for Murdaugh, not her family

While all the stories surrounding the disgraced ex-lawyer Murdaugh, including multiple untimely deaths and the repeated stealing of settlement money from clients over an 11-year period the theft from Donna Badger’s estate is just one of several that stands out. Murdaugh represented Badger in his lawsuit against UPS for an accident where one of their trucks invaded oncoming traffic slamming into the Badger family car. The impact resulted in the death of Arthur’s wife and partner of 12 years.

Instead of paying Donna’s family the whole of the settlement funds, he converted it into money orders paid to Murdaugh’s family, associates and to pay off credit card debts. In total he funneled 14 settlement payments worth over $1.3 million that should have gone to the Badger family.

Alex Murdaugh is facing a litany of charges

His criminal enterprise began with checks-for-money orders method at the Palmetto State Bank of Hampton, aided by friends at the financial institution, but later created a fraudulent bank account using the name “Forge” according to prosecutors. He is alleged to have chosen the name in order to mimic Forge Consulting, LLC to give the fake account legitimacy. The company has also filed suit against Murdaugh for damaging the financial firm’s business reputation and credibility.

As well as Bank of America which didn’t conduct “any due diligence” to confirm Murdaugh’s ‘Forge’ was who he pretended it was. “All Bank of America had to do was make a phone call and they would have realized the truth,” said Bakari Sellers, a lawyer for the company.

The bizarre litany of charges against Murdaugh has been developed into a documentary on Apple TV in 2021, a pair of podcasts and a recently released Netflix series.

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