Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer accused of trying to stage his own death in a life insurance scam, faces a new lawsuit alleging he orchestrated a "whisper campaign" to deflect blame for a fatal boat crash in 2019 from his son and put it on another passenger.
That passenger, Connor Cook, 21, said in the suit filed Monday that Murdaugh and others "were orchestrating a campaign" to have him held "criminally and civilly responsible for the boat accident, through inadequate investigation," a "whisper campaign in the Hampton County community, and law enforcement misdirection and possible obstruction of the investigation."
Cook is seeking unspecified compensation in the suit for "severe injuries and damages for which he sought medical treatment and continues to suffer today."
Murdaugh, 53, has been in the spotlight after the unsolved fatal shootings in June of his wife, Margaret, 52, and their youngest son, Paul, 22. At the time of the slayings, Paul was facing criminal charges in connection with the boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com
