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Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update breaking crime news Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm Nico Parton.

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Speaker 3: A former high profile banker from South Carolina has confessed

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Speaker 3: to aiding convicted murderer and fraudster Alec Murdog in siphoning

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Speaker 3: millions from clients described by a federal judge as quote vulnerable.

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Speaker 3: Russell Lafitte, x CEO of Palmetto State Bank in Hampton,

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Speaker 3: entered a guilty plea to six federal charges of bank

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Speaker 3: and wire fraud related to Murdog's extensive financial scheme that

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Speaker 3: defrauded clients out of significant amounts of money, as reported

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Speaker 3: in online court documents. In the plea agreement submitted to

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Speaker 3: federal prosecutors in South Carolina, Lafitte admitted to charges including

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Speaker 3: bank fraud, wirefraud, conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud,

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Speaker 3: and misappropriation of funds. According to WCSC, As part of

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Speaker 3: the plea deal, Lafitte faces a five year federal prison

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Speaker 3: sentence and is required to repay over three points point six.

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Speaker 2: Million dollars in restitution.

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Speaker 3: This as noted by The Greenville News, he made these

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Speaker 3: admissions just weeks prior to his scheduled federal trial. Previously,

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Speaker 3: Lafitte was convicted on similar charges in twenty twenty two

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Speaker 3: and sentenced to seven years behind bars. However, that conviction

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Speaker 3: was later overturned by an appeals court, which determined that

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Speaker 3: Lafitte had been denied a fair trial when a judge

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Speaker 3: permitted the replacement of quote anxious jurors with alternates.

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Speaker 2: As reported by The Post and Courier.

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Speaker 3: During Lafitte's sentencing in twenty twenty three, US District Judge

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Speaker 3: Richard Gergel remarked that Lafitte was involved in an elaborate

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Speaker 3: criminal scheme. He likened Lafitte's treatment of those individuals to

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Speaker 3: that of a chess piece, manipulating their funds with disregard

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Speaker 3: for their suffering. In twenty twenty two, during a trial,

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Speaker 3: prosecutors detailed how Lafitte leveraged his position at the bank

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Speaker 3: to facilitate Murdoch's theft of millions from his clients.

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Speaker 2: This reported by the state.

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Speaker 3: Murdog, who has since been disbarred, redirected settlements intended for

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Speaker 3: grieving families and survivors or personal injury cases to Lafitte,

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Speaker 3: who created bank accounts to merge these funds, which they

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Speaker 3: ultimately misappropriated. Two sisters testified about the mismanagement of a

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Speaker 3: million dollar settlement awarded to them after their mother died

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Speaker 3: in a car accident when they were just twelve and

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Speaker 3: eight years old. Evidence presented by an FBI accountant revealed

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Speaker 3: that Lafitte misused twenty thousand dollars from one of the

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Speaker 3: sisters accounts to build himself a swimming pool. In addition

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Speaker 3: to these charges, Lafitte, who acted as conservator for Murdog's

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Speaker 3: personal injury clients, is accused of granting himself three hundred

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Speaker 3: and fifty five thousand dollars in personal loans and providing

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Speaker 3: Murdog with ninety nine hundred thousand dollars in loans drawn

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Speaker 3: from clients' funds at his bank. This all, according to prosecutors.

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Speaker 3: Lafitte still faces state chell charges in South Carolina, with

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Speaker 3: a trial scheduled for October.

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Speaker 2: More crime and justice news after this.

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Speaker 1: How could a beautiful, young first grade teacher be stabbed

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Speaker 1: twenty times, including in the back, allegedly die of suicide? Yes,

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Speaker 1: that was the medical examiner's official ruling after a closed

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Speaker 1: door meeting. He first named it a homicide. Why what

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Speaker 1: happened to Ellen Greenberg? A huge American miscarriage of justice.

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Speaker 1: For an in depth look at the facts, see what

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Speaker 1: Happened to Ellen on Amazon. All proceeds to the National

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Speaker 1: Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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Speaker 3: A seventeen year old was injured in the leg during

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Speaker 3: a school shooting at a high school in Dallas today.

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Speaker 3: Emergency responders quickly aar arrived at the Wilmer Hutchins High School.

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Speaker 3: The male victim was taken to the hospital and is

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Speaker 3: currently in stable condition, although additional details have not yet

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Speaker 3: been disclosed. According to WFAA, Dallas Fire Rescue responded to

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Speaker 3: a call received at the school around one oh six pm.

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Speaker 3: By one for five pm, the situation had reportedly been contained,

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Speaker 3: but aeriel footage revealed a strong police presence at the scene.

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Speaker 3: Students were seen evacuating the campus and moving towards the

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Speaker 3: school stadium. Authorities are advising parents and the public to

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Speaker 3: steer clear of the area as the investigation is ongoing.

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Speaker 3: Carmelo Anthony, the seventeen year old charged with the fatal

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Speaker 3: stabbing of a fellow student at a high school track event,

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Speaker 3: was released from jail after his bill was significantly reduced.

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Speaker 3: He left the Collin County jail around four to twenty

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Speaker 3: pm and was placed under house arrest with an ankle monitor.

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Speaker 3: During a hearing at the County Courthouse in McKinney on Monday,

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Speaker 3: state District Judge Angela Tucker decreased Anthony's bill from one

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Speaker 3: million dollars to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Anthony

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Speaker 3: had been held on a murder charge since April two,

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Speaker 3: following his arrest for allegedly killing seventeen year old Austin

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Speaker 3: Metcalf during the District eleven to five a track meet

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Speaker 3: that was held at the stadium. Anthony has claimed he

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Speaker 3: acted in self defense and is innocent of the charges.

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Speaker 3: Nancy Grace and her team of experts break down this

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Speaker 3: case tonight on Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Doctor

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Speaker 3: Phiel's Merriage Street Media six nine and twelve pm Eastern,

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Speaker 3: or download Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on your favorite

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Speaker 3: podcasting app with this crime alert.

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Speaker 2: I'm Nicole Parton