#South Carolina authorities launch probe of Alex Murdaugh over stolen money

South Carolina authorities said Monday they have launched an investigation into claims that troubled attorney Alex Murdaugh stole money from his high-powered law firm.

Murdaugh, 53, resigned from the lucrative family firm and entered rehab earlier this month, two days after he told police he was shot while sitting in his car.

The bizarre incident came three months after he reported that he came home to find his wife and 22-year-old son shot to death in the family home in Colleton County — a double murder that remains unsolved.

Now he’s at the center of the probe by South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division over alleged misappropriation of funds.

“As chief of SLED, I continue to urge the public to be patient and let this investigation take its course,” the agency’s chief, Mark Keel, said in a statement obtained by WSCS-TV. “Investigative decisions we make throughout this case and any potentially related case must ultimately withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice process.

“As with all cases, SLED is committed to conducting a professional, thorough and impartial criminal investigation, no matter where the facts lead us.”

Word of the investigation comes in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday to suspend Murdaugh’s law license amid the allegations that he stole money from Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick.

One of Murdaugh’s attorneys, Jim Griffin, said the prominent lawyer checked himself into an in-patient substance abuse clinic after being treated for the gunshot wound.