COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina judge on Thursday revoked bond for Curtis Eddie Smith, a distant cousin and alleged co-conspirator of Alex Murdaugh’s, sending Smith back to jail possibly until trial.
In a hearing at the Richland County courthouse, Judge Clifton Newman revoked Smith’s bond after S.C. Attorney General prosecutor Creighton Waters told the judge that Smith was lying when he told the judge at a June bond hearing that he had no money.
Newman said he is open to revisiting the bond at a later date.
During the 31-minute hearing, prosecutor Waters quoted Smith’s statements about his financial condition.
“He said, ‘I ain’t got no money — twice,’” Waters told the judge.
But in fact, on the day when Smith said that, he had $58,000 in a bank account. And just a few weeks ago, he had $80,000 in a checking account, Waters said.
Moreover, Smith had strayed from the boundaries during his house arrest to places like Wal-Mart and “various private residences” where he was not supposed to be under the bond conditions, Waters said.
“I apologize for taking up your time,” Smith told the judge Thursday just before Newman sent him to jail. He had come to court through the front door wearing a light gray dress shirt and a tie, but left court through a back entrance escorted by an armed Richland County deputy.
Smith, 62, is accused of drug trafficking and running a longtime money laundering scheme that involved $2.4 million in money allegedly stolen by Murdaugh.
Prosecutors described Smith’s crimes as engaging in a money laundering operation, whereby Murdaugh over the course of several years then gave Smith $2.4 million in checks, many of which were converted to cash and given back to Murdaugh.
Much of that money went to buy drugs for Murdaugh, who remains in jail on a slew of financial-related charges and also weapons and murder charges in the June 2021 shooting deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
Smith has denied the charges.
Last month, Smith was given a $250,000 surety bond, allowing him to stay out of jail. The bond required Smith to wear a GPS monitor and stay under house arrest except when on allowed outings away from the home
Jarrett Bouchette, Smith’s lawyer, told the judge that Smith didn’t really misrepresent his financial situation, and that some recent money Smith had come into came from an insurance settlement.
“This is a man of limited means,” Bouchette said.
Smith has also been paying down debts with much of the money, Bouchette said, adding that Smith’s entire life savings is about $52,000.
“We certainly did not mean to imply or misrepresent anything to the court,” Bouchette said.
Newman told Bouchette Thursday that Smith “has an obligation to be candid with the court and not misrepresent anything to the court.”
Aimee Zmroczek, Smith’s other attorney, told the judge that some of the work that Smith does requires him to make deliveries and those were the houses he was going to. He went to Wal-Mart to get medicines, Zmroczek said.
“Since some of his work is not traditional work, there clearly needs to be more communication about where he’s going,” Zmroczek told the judge.
Zmroczek also said she and Bouchette had “a serious come-to-Jesus meeting” with Smith about where he can and cannot go and how he has to check in with authorities when he goes to unapproved places.
Smith suffers from serious medical conditions and they could get worse if he is put into jail, Zmroczek said.
“A bond revocation at this point your honor would be harsh, a harsh punishment, for people who didn’t have a sufficient understanding (of the bond terms),” Zmroczek said.
