Russell Laffitte

The board of directors of Palmetto State Bank fired CEO Russell Laffitte in January 2022 after subopoenas from the South Carolina Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel — investigating allegations that disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh defrauded clients and his family-founded law firm — named him and a bank vice president, the Island Packet reported. Laffitte’s family founded the bank in 1907, three years before Murdaugh’s great-grandfather founded the law firm that fired him when allegations that he stole millions from the company and its clients came to light. It’s not clear if Russell Laffitte remains on the bank’s board of directors along with board chairman Charles Laffitte Jr and many other members of the family.