Alex Murdaugh’s attempt to reduce a 40-year prison sentence on numerous fraud convictions was thrown out Tuesday by federal judges.
Murdaugh, 56, appealed the sentence by arguing that U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel was too harsh in imposing such a lengthy term. Federal investigators had recommended 17-22 years.
But the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was unmoved. The judges said Murdaugh had signed away his appeal rights when pleading guilty, and the 40-year sentence was not an extraordinary circumstance that would let him out of that agreement.
Murdaugh’s defense team referenced the high-profile cases of Sam Bankman-Fried, who got 25 years behind bars, and Elizabeth Holmes, who got 11 years. Those two fraudsters stole billions, while Murdaugh only admitted to stealing around $10 million.
But Judge Gergel said he imposed his harsh sentence because Murdaugh stole from “the most needy, vulnerable people,” such as a state trooper injured on the job and a trust fund set up for orphaned children. Bankman-Fried and Holmes, meanwhile, stole from wealthy investors.
“They placed all their problems and all their hopes on Mr. Murdaugh, and it is from those people he abused and stole,” Gergel said when he brought the hammer down.
Murdaugh has also been sentenced to two life terms for killing his wife, Maggie, and older son, Paul, at the family estate in South Carolina in June 2021. He has appealed the verdict in that case, arguing that a court clerk unfairly biased the jury against him. Earlier this year, South Carolina’s top court agreed to hear his appeal on those grounds.
