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Alex Murdaugh— Case Archive
personpersonCarson BurneyCarson BurneyForensic accountant who analyzed Alex Murdaugh's finances and traced funds presented by the State.← All People
Expert witness

Carson Burney

Courtroom still of Carson Burney.

Forensic accountant who analyzed Alex Murdaugh's finances and traced funds presented by the State.

Appeared2023 Murder Trial
219 lines·7 proceedings·2 mentions

About

Carson Burney testified as a forensic accountant about the movement of alleged stolen funds through accounts associated with Alex Murdaugh. He explained that he applied a first-in-first-out convention to commingled accounts, traced funds to loans, credit cards, personal obligations, and identified recipients, and stopped each trace at a specified endpoint.

Burney traced three Wilson Law Group checks totaling $792,000 into Murdaugh's Bank of America account and testified that the funds had been exhausted by May 25, 2021. He also analyzed identified deposits, loans, and credit lines and concluded that the available funds and credit were insufficient to meet the three financial demands presented to him for June 7.

The defense challenged the scope of that analysis. Burney acknowledged that it was a liquidity snapshot rather than a valuation of Murdaugh's total wealth, and that it excluded retirement accounts, real-estate equity, partnership interests, and the possibility of obtaining another loan. He also explained that pooled-account dollars could not be individually identified and limited several answers about lending practices and interest calculations to his own work and knowledge.

On redirect, Burney distinguished liquid resources from real estate that could take months to convert to cash. He returned to the traced destinations, including loan payments and repayments to individuals, and clarified that the defense's asserted interest total was not his calculation.

Trial Record (7)

20232023 Murder TrialJan 23, 2023 – Mar 3, 2023Called by prosecution

Carson Burney presented forensic-accounting testimony tracing alleged stolen funds and assessing Alex Murdaugh's available funds and credit on June 7, 2021. Cross-examination and redirect defined the analysis as a liquidity snapshot and clarified its methodological and factual limits.

Day 10

DirectCarson Burney - DirectCarson BurneyJohnny E. James1highlight108lines spoken

Summary

Forensic accountant Carson Burney traced alleged stolen funds through Murdaugh-controlled accounts and personal disbursements; Exhibits 373 through 397 were admitted for the Court's in-camera review.

Highlights (1)

Quote“The green table at the top indicates the three instruments I was tracing. So, the first being a check in the amount of $192,000, with a date, or a negotiated date of March 10, 2021. Second, a $375,000 instrument that was ultimately negotiated on March 23, 2021. And the last is an instrument in the amount of $225,000 that was ultimately negotiated on April 20, 2021. And there you can see the bank number, account number that it was deposited into.”— Carson BurneyBurney identified the three instruments totaling $792,000 that formed the basis of the Faris-case tracing summary.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶

Day 11

ProceduralRule 404(b) Ruling and Limiting InstructionMentioned

Summary

The court admitted alleged financial-crimes evidence under Rule 404(b), Rule 403, and res gestae, clarified that the ruling extended beyond June 7, and addressed the defense's request for a limiting instruction and preserved objection.

Mentioned in this proceeding.

Day 17

Voir DireCarson Burney - Voir DireCarson BurneyJohnny E. James1highlight16lines spoken

Summary

Carson Burney outlined his forensic-accounting credentials and case-specific tracing work; the court qualified him as an expert after the defense renewed its prior Rule 404 objection.

Highlights (1)

Quote“I have. Pretty much all of the alleged stolen money I have traced.”— Carson BurneyBurney stated the scope of his case-specific tracing work immediately before the State sought his qualification as an expert.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶
DirectCarson Burney - DirectCarson BurneyJohnny E. James2highlights53lines spoken

Summary

Carson Burney traced $792,000 through Murdaugh-controlled accounts, identified replacement payments to Chris Wilson, and testified about Murdaugh's available funds and credit on June 7, 2021.

Highlights (2)

Quote“So, a large portion of the money was checks to associates, known people to Alex Murdaugh, and then the remaining of the funds primarily we see credit card payments.”— Carson BurneyBurney summarized the principal destinations he identified for the traced $792,000.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶
Quote“So, it was completely exhausted out of the account by May 25, 2021.”— Carson BurneyBurney gave the date by which the $792,000 was exhausted under his first-in, first-out analysis.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶
CrossCarson Burney - CrossCarson BurneyJim Griffin1highlight27lines spoken

Summary

The defense narrowed Carson Burney's June 7 analysis to liquid assets and outstanding loans, while Burney maintained that borrowing was needed to repay the Chris Wilson fees and traced about $500,000 of the reviewed $792,000 to Curtis Eddie Smith.

Highlights (1)

Quote“So, I was looking at liquid assets. So, would he have the ability that day to pay those amounts.”— Carson BurneyBurney identified liquidity on June 7, rather than total net worth, as the focus of his analysis.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶
RedirectCarson Burney - RedirectCarson BurneyJohnny E. James1highlight15lines spoken

Summary

Burney distinguished liquid assets from slower-to-sell real estate, qualified the source of a claimed $4 million-plus interest total, and reaffirmed that traced funds went toward loan and interest payments.

Highlights (1)

Quote“That's what Mr. Griffin represented. I had not done the calculations myself.”— Carson BurneyBurney expressly limited his knowledge of the more-than-$4-million interest figure rather than presenting it as his own calculation.Open in transcript →Watch this moment ▶
ProceduralRoadside-Shooting Motion in LimineMentioned

Summary

The State argued that Murdaugh's false unknown-assailant account after the roadside shooting was connected to the financial confrontation and intended to suggest the killers had returned; the defense challenged its relevance and admissibility, and the court deferred ruling until the next morning.

Mentioned in this proceeding.