Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina lawyer facing a slew of criminal charges, has publicly pleaded the fifth in response to his former law firm’s allegations that he funneled stolen money into a fake bank account for years. In a Friday motion, Murdaugh asserted his “privilege against self-incrimination guaranteed by the United States and South Carolina constitutions and respectfully refuses not to answer the allegations” laid out in an lawsuit filed last month by Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, and Detrick (PMPED). In the suit, the law firm founded a century ago by Murdaugh’s great-grandfather alleges Murdaugh covertly stole funds “by disguising disbursements from settlements as payments” to a fraudulent Bank of America account to enrich himself.

The firm confronted Murdaugh about his alleged misdeeds on Sept. 3, when he admitted to the scheme and resigned, the lawsuit states. The next day, Murdaugh orchestrated his own would-be murder in a botched scheme to leave his surviving son his $10 million payout. The Friday motion states that while Murdaugh denies most of the allegations in PMPED's lawsuit, he does admit that he used to work at the firm and is a resident of South Carolina. Murdaugh, 53, is currently in prison on charges he stole millions from a wrongful death settlement meant for the beneficiaries of his former housekeeper.