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604 lines
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<title>03 March, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Anniversary of Destruction, Loss, and Bravery in Ukraine</strong> - Ukrainians have responded with remarkable dignity and courage, but there is little to romanticize one year into the Russian invasion. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/an-anniversary-of-destruction-loss-and-bravery-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Government Cancelled Betty Ann’s Debts</strong> - For a ninety-one-year-old law-school graduate, the Department of Education discharged more than three hundred thousand dollars in student debt. Could relief be that simple? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-government-forgave-betty-anns-debts">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Is Ron DeSantis Doing to Florida’s Public Liberal-Arts College?</strong> - DeSantis is not simply inveighing against progressive control of institutions. He is using his powers as governor to remake them. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/what-is-ron-desantis-doing-to-floridas-public-liberal-arts-college">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Couple Who Fled Russia for the War in Ukraine</strong> - When Alex and Halyna arrived at the Ukrainian border, a Russian agent looked at them like they were crazy. “Do you even know what’s going on there?” he asked. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-couple-who-fled-russia-for-the-war-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why S.U.V.s Are Still a Huge Environmental Problem</strong> - The world is moving toward heavier cars at a time when it should be doing precisely the reverse. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-suvs-are-still-a-huge-environmental-problem">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Elon Musk thinks we’re close to solving AI. That doesn’t make it true.</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Elon Musk speaks in front of a Tesla Model Y." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a8N9SlNxdxNm7iGyKbvTATeavck=/462x0:6435x4480/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72033116/GettyImages_1239417462.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Musk speaks at the opening of a new Tesla plant in 2022. | Christian Marquardt/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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What he gets right — and very wrong — about AI, from driverless cars to ChatGPT.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jmji4Q">
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Elon Musk is at or near the top of pretty much every AI influencer list I have ever seen, despite the fact he doesn’t have a degree in AI and seems to have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/npqu.11427">only one</a> academic journal article in the field, which received little notice.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TlrpGi">
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There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that; Yann LeCun was trained in physics (the same field as one of Musk’s <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2022/11/elon-musk-penn-grad-wharton-twitter-auction#:~:text=Musk%20graduated%20from%20the%20College%20and%20Wharton%20in%201997%20with,up%20company%2C%20according%20to%20Fortune.">two undergraduate degrees</a>) but is justifiably known for his pioneering work in machine learning. I’m known for my AI work, too, but I trained in cognitive science. The most important paper I ever wrote for AI was in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9892549/">a psychology journal</a>. It’s perfectly fine for people to influence different fields, and Musk’s work on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/14/technology/tesla-self-driving-flaws.html">driverless cars</a> has undoubtedly influenced the development of AI.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Fp3U7">
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But an awful lot of what he says about AI has been wrong. Most notoriously, none of his forecasts about timelines for self-driving cars have been correct. In October 2016, he <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/driverless-tesla-will-travel-l-nyc-2017-says-musk-n670206">predicted</a> that a Tesla would drive itself from California to New York by 2017. (It didn’t.) Tesla has deployed a technology called “Autopilot,” but everybody in the industry knows that name is a fib, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-is-sued-by-drivers-over-alleged-false-autopilot-full-self-driving-claims-2022-09-14/">more marketing than reality</a>. Teslas are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-flags-its-cars-not-ready-be-approved-fully-self-driving-this-year-2022-10-20/">nowhere close to being able to drive themselves</a>; the software is still so buggy seven years after Tesla started rolling it out that a human driver still must pay attention at all times.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6wftRd">
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Musk also seems to consistently misunderstand the relationship between natural (human) intelligence and artificial intelligence. He’s repeatedly <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3DHM23sjhtk4Q&d=DwMFaQ&c=7MSjEE-cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&r=ct6dauPa_NTjdRjj1u6cIc96YmXo5720qGQ3u69psLE&m=DjIWCPEZH4qwG56I6Jj_W2cpmQ6MrNjC2FVvs6GlQIXKe8kP2RD9d1ANQUPZv5K5&s=jxov3hX4J_QdZBqojAVmlmE7w9TuBKw9PcvzY4WBlNQ&e=">argued</a> that Teslas don’t need <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar">Lidar</a> — a sensing system that virtually every other autonomous vehicle company relies on — on the basis of a misleading <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1447588987317547014">comparison</a> between human vision and cameras in driverless cars. While it’s true that humans don’t need Lidar to drive, current AI doesn’t seem anywhere close enough to being able to understand and deal with a full array of road conditions without it. Driverless cars need Lidar as a crutch precisely because they don’t have human-like intelligence.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FKy5Q6">
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Teslas can’t even consistently avoid <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-cars-crashes-emergency-vehicles/">crashing into stopped emergency vehicles</a>, a problem that the company has failed to solve for more than five years. For reasons still not publicly disclosed, the perceptual and decision-making systems for the cars haven’t managed to drive with sufficient reliability yet, without human intervention. Musk’s claim is like saying that humans don’t need to walk because cars don’t have feet. If my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a car.
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</p>
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<h3 id="pmZxG7">
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ChatGPT isn’t the profound AI advance that it seems
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sxpbwj">
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Despite a spotty track record, Musk continues to make pronouncements about AI, and when he does, people take it seriously. His latest, first <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/elon-musk-co-founder-of-chatgpt-creator-openai-warns-of-ai-society-risk.html?recirc=taboolainternal">reported</a> by CNBC and picked up widely thereafter, took place a few weeks ago at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Some of what Musk said is, in my professional judgment, spot-on — and some of it is way off.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qrl9BP">
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What was most wrong was his implication that we are close to solving AI — or reaching so-called “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) with the flexibility of human intelligence — claiming that ChatGPT “has illustrated to people just how advanced AI has become.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gBaty8">
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That’s just silly. To some people, especially those who haven’t been following the AI field, the degree to which ChatGPT can mimic human prose seems deeply surprising. But it’s also deeply flawed. A truly superintelligent AI would be able to tell true from false, to reason about people and objects and science, and to be as versatile and quick in learning new things as humans are — none of which the current generation of chatbots is capable of. All ChatGPT can do is predict text that might be plausible in different contexts based on the enormous body of written work it’s been trained on, but it has no regard for whether what it spits out is true.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jf9Vv9">
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That makes ChatGPT incredibly fun to play with, and if handled responsibly, sometimes <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00500-8">it can even be useful</a>, but it doesn’t make it genuinely smart. The system has tremendous trouble telling the truth, <a href="https://cybernews.com/tech/chatgpts-bard-ai-answers-hallucination/">hallucinates</a> routinely, and sometimes struggles with basic math. It doesn’t understand what a number is. In this example, sent to me by the AI researcher Melanie Mitchell, ChatGPT can’t understand the relation between a pound of feather and two pounds of bricks, foiled by the <a href="https://twitter.com/GaryMarcus/status/1607023594957045761?s=20">ridiculous guardrail</a> system that prevents it from using hateful language but also keeps it from directly answering many questions, which <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1622625034538811395?s=20">Musk himself has complained about</a> elsewhere.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EpP4vlZF6qNiE2HVzvAOW9XNv7U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24473552/Picture1.png"/>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dkLFeZ">
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Examples of ChatGPT fails like this are legion across the internet. Together with NYU computer scientist Ernest Davis and others, I have assembled <a href="https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/large-language-models-like-chatgpt">a whole collection of them</a>; feel free to contribute your own. OpenAI often fixes them, but new errors continue to appear. Here’s one of my current favorites:
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</p>
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<div id="4ZCddt">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
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The suspense was killing me. <a href="https://t.co/7dCrfAcOUn">pic.twitter.com/7dCrfAcOUn</a>
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</p>
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— DJ Strouse (<span class="citation" data-cites="djstrouse">@djstrouse</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/djstrouse/status/1605964340234010626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2022</a>
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</blockquote></div></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GANs23">
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These cases illustrate that, despite superficial appearances to the contrary, ChatGPT can’t reason, has no idea what it’s talking about, and absolutely cannot be trusted. It has no real moral compass and has to rely on crude guardrails that try to prevent it from going evil <a href="https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/inside-the-heart-of-chatgpts-darkness">but can be broken without much difficulty</a>. Sometimes it gets things right because the text you type into it is close enough to something it’s been trained on, but that’s incidental. Being right <em>sometimes</em> is not a sound basis for artificial intelligence.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mAHC1I">
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Musk is <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/fighting-woke-ai-musk-recruits-team-to-develop-openai-rival">reportedly</a> looking to build a ChatGPT rival — “TruthGPT,” as he <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1626533667408596992">put it</a> recently — but this also misses something important: Truth just isn’t part of GPT-style architectures. It’s fine to want to build new AI that addresses the fundamental problems with current language models, but that would require a very different design, and it’s not clear that Musk appreciates how radical the changes will need to be.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="59fNxo">
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Where the stakes are high, companies are already figuring out that truth and GPT aren’t the closest of friends. JPMorgan just <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/jpmorgan-restricts-employees-from-using-chatgpt-2da5dc34">restricted</a> its employees from using ChatGPT for business, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-24/citigroup-goldman-sachs-join-chatgpt-crackdown-fn-reports">Citigroup and Goldman Sachs</a> quickly followed suit. As Yann LeCun <a href="https://twitter.com/ylecun/status/1621805604900585472">put it</a>, echoing what I’ve been <a href="https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/some-things-garymarcus-might-say">saying</a> for years, it’s an offramp on the road to artificial general intelligence because its underlying technology has nothing to do with the requirements of genuine intelligence.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ecJmRy">
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Last May, Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1531328534169493506?lang=en">said</a> he’d be “surprised if we don’t have AGI by” 2029. I registered my doubts then, <a href="https://twitter.com/GaryMarcus/status/1531752767835938816">offered</a> to bet him $100,000 (that’s real money for me, if <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/tech/elon-musk-richest-man-again/index.html">not so much for him</a>), and wrote up a set of conditions. Many people in the field shared my sentiment that on predictions like these, Musk is all talk and no action. By the next day, without planning to, I’d raised <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/06/03/elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-agi-tesla-500k-bet/">another $400,000</a> for the bet from fellow AI experts. Musk never got back to us. If he really believed what he’s saying, he should have.
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</p>
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<h3 id="IbHOT6">
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We should still be very worried
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dJA78r">
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If Musk is wrong about when driverless cars are coming, <a href="https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/sub-optimal">naive</a> about what it takes to build human-like robots, and grossly off on the timeline for general intelligence, he <em>is</em> right about something: Houston, we do have a problem.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5uVXcn">
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At the Dubai event last month, Musk told the crowd, “One of the biggest risks to the future of civilization is AI.” I still think nuclear war and climate change might be bigger, but these last few weeks, especially with the shambolic introductions of new AI search engines by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html">Microsoft</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/2/7/23590069/bing-openai-microsoft-google-bard">Google</a>, lead me to think that we are going to see more and more primitive and unreliable artificial intelligence products rushed to market.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="znIF2U">
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That may not be precisely the kind of AI Musk had in mind, but it does pose clear and present dangers. New concerns are appearing seemingly every day, ranging from unforeseen <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-cheating-5-ways-to-change-how-students-are-graded-200248">consequences</a> in education to the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-platforms-like-chatgpt-are-easy-to-use-but-also-potentially-dangerous/">possibility</a> of massive, automated misinformation campaigns. Extremist organizations, like the alt-right social network Gab, have already <a href="https://twitter.com/jjvincent/status/1627971614653444097">begun</a> announcing intentions to build their own AI.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fys5Qg">
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So don’t go to Musk for specific timelines about AGI or driverless cars. But he still makes a crucial point: We have new technology on our hands, and we don’t really know how this is all going to play out. When he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/musk-ai-stresses-me-out-2023-03-02/">said</a> this week that “we need some kind of, like, regulatory authority or something overseeing AI development,” he may not have been at his most eloquent, but he was absolutely right.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PEZLFR">
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We aren’t, in truth, all that close to AGI. Instead, we are unleashing a seductive yet haphazard and truth-disregarding AI that maybe nobody anticipated. But the takeaway is still the same. We should be worried, no matter how smart (or not) it is.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IQsDSy">
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<a href="http://garymarcus.com/"><em>Gary Marcus</em></a><em><strong> </strong></em><em>(</em><a href="https://twitter.com/GaryMarcus"><em><span class="citation" data-cites="garymarcus">@garymarcus</span></em></a><em>) is a</em><em><strong> </strong></em><em>scientist, bestselling author, and entrepreneur. He founded the startup Geometric Intelligence, which was acquired by Uber in 2016. His new podcast, Humans versus Machines, will launch this spring.</em>
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>You can now buy a fraction of a house. Should you?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Illustration of two people splitting a house." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1fO3ANMEhhgSNYFcHKkZxTIf6jE=/164x0:4733x3427/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72033057/GettyImages_1158243221__1_.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images/fStop
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Buying a home is more out of reach than ever. But a new investing trend could spell trouble for renters and would-be buyers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C8KWTB">
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Joshua Heier isn’t your typical homebuyer. Recently, rather than purchasing an entire property by himself, he has started buying fractions of single-family homes around the country, many of them in Sun Belt states.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MfZFst">
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“I think it’s kind of a stepping stone toward actually buying and owning a full rental property,” says Heier, a 30-year-old investor in California who is using Arrived Homes, one of a spate of new “fractional” real estate investment platforms. It allows him a peek at the ins and outs of what it might cost to be a landlord, or how long it takes to find a tenant in a certain neighborhood. And, he says, “It doesn’t require a $50,000 down payment.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UumGeB">
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Heier has invested a pretty modest $2,900 through Arrived, and he says the company currently values his portfolio at around $3,300. The basic pitch of fractional real estate platforms is that in just a few clicks, you can buy a share of a home (or shares of many, many homes) and then kick back and relax as rental profits roll in. So much of what’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/business/passive-income-job-retirement.html">billed as passive income</a> isn’t actually passive, but fractional real estate companies contend that property ownership can genuinely require no hustle. Arrived, for example, allows investors to start with just a $100 investment and manages the properties and deducts the fees out of rental income.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cyiCX0">
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Part of the draw is that it takes so little to get started — not just in terms of money, but also the amount of time and research required before buying. “I usually look at the market and the dividends and not too much else beyond that,” says Heier. “I’ll look a little bit at the photos. A little bit about, you know, is it two-bedroom, three-bedroom, four-bedroom.”
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="iYVAVb">
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<q>It allows a peek at the ins and outs of what it might cost to be a landlord, or how long it takes to find a tenant in a certain neighborhood</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GRqF49">
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Heier makes no secret of his bullish outlook on fractional real estate investing, believing in its power to democratize an asset class that retail traders — that is, individuals who aren’t investing professionally — have had limited access to. Fractional real estate investing platforms claim to remove barriers of entry in an investment space notoriously difficult for most people to jump into: Buying a home on your own requires a chunk of upfront money, it takes time to qualify for and close on a home, and first-time landlords can get bogged down by the additional costs and work required to manage a rental property. (In 2022, the average down payment on homes across the 50 largest metro areas in the US was $62,611 according to data from loan marketplace <a href="https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/average-down-payments-study/">LendingTree</a>.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mWmrbP">
|
||
More than 40 percent of Arrived’s investors are renters themselves, according to Arrived Homes CEO and co-founder Ryan Frazier. “When you think about this next generation who might own one or two or three properties, they’re less interested in owning those properties in their hometown because they’re moving around a lot more and they don’t want to be tied down to those assets,” he told Vox.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ldTe1e">
|
||
Arrived is far from the only startup to offer fractional real estate investing; a raft of similar companies have popped up in the past few years, but Arrived has the most buzz, thanks to some high-profile backers: <a href="https://autos.yahoo.com/jeff-bezos-increases-bet-single-134134037.html">Jeff Bezos</a> joined a $37 million seed round in June 2021 and a $25 million funding round in May 2022; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is an angel investor, as is Fred Tuomi, former CEO of Invitation Homes, one of the largest <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/12/invitation-homes-corporate-landlord-permits/">corporate landlords of single-family home rentals</a> in the US. Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also threw in contributions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SrsBkK">
|
||
The recent growth spurt in fractional real estate investing, however, elicits broader societal worries. Fractional real estate investing platforms are an emblem of how the tech sector has transformed real estate in recent decades. It’s a trend driven in part by the sense that owning a home is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/30/housing-market-shuts-out-millennials/">out of reach</a> for <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/millennial-homeownership">young Americans</a>. At least investing in real estate, the thinking goes, provides a path to some of the wealth that homeownership has long represented.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fa4hk0">
|
||
But the treatment of housing as a commodity that generates profits rather than as shelter has affected not just rents but housing stability for the <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2022.pdf">44 million renter households</a> in the US. The question now is what happens when everyday investors — with varying degrees of wealth, market knowledge, and experience — enter the fray.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="je4ots">
|
||
Another real estate tech trend has moved in
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kaRfDZ">
|
||
Fractional investing isn’t a novel invention. Similar models of piecemeal investing across a broad array of real estate markets have existed for decades. Buying fractions of individual properties isn’t new either: Fundrise, which allows small investors to buy shares in bundles of commercial and residential real estate, was founded in 2010. More recently, Lofty AI, Landa, Here, Ark7, HappyNest, RealtyMogul, and DiversyFund all offer roughly the same idea, though they vary in the kinds of real estate offered (commercial, residential, vacation, or a mix), and some have even lower minimum investments than Arrived. Landa, for example, suggests that anyone can get into real estate investing for just $5. Lofty AI sells fractional “property tokens’’ purchased with the <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/usdc">USD coin cryptocurrency</a>, and users can get started with around $50. The company pays rental income to investors daily, and serves as a marketplace for home sellers, not just investors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ezg7gf">
|
||
Nate Gipson is a 25-year-old program analyst for a dual-use tech accelerator in the Bay Area who discovered fractional real estate investing in mid-2021. “At the time, I was a college student who definitely did not have enough money to purchase, you know, a whole home,” he tells Vox. He started with Lofty AI, and got hooked and tried other platforms too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LvuKsJ">
|
||
One benefit of Lofty is that users can sell their property tokens if they decide they want out. Many other fractional real estate sites don’t yet have a secondary market to sell shares — investors would have to wait until the investment period for the property was over. He says he has invested about $75,000 in fractional real estate with about $10,000 in returns over the past 18 months.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFMB7h">
|
||
Many companies like Lofty and Arrived echo the same selling point: Ordinary people have been locked out of the kind of reliable wealth creation gained from real estate as home prices rise. “I’m in the Bay Area, so homes are pretty expensive,” Gipson says. “I look at a home that’s $800,000 and I see that it sold five years ago for $450,000. There’s just no way for the average person to keep up with that. There’s just no way.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C0kahb">
|
||
“It’s so easy to just click a button on an app or website,” he continues. “And I’m not necessarily saying that’s a good thing — but there’s a desire for that.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iuCNOh">
|
||
Gipson says he is using fractional real estate investing to save for a down payment on a single-family home in the Bay Area for him and his wife to live in. “My returns have been pretty darn good,” says Gipson. “Some of the properties I invested in turned out to be absolutely terrible. But I made money on others, so it is what it is.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="aDWjaD">
|
||
<q>“I look at a home that’s $800,000 and I see that it sold five years ago for $450,000. There’s just no way for the average person to keep up with that.”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5bPedL">
|
||
Typically, if someone wants to “invest” in real estate, they either buy a whole property and rent it out, or they invest in a REIT — a real estate investment trust — which spreads money across a range of real estate assets. Some fractional real estate companies are doing exactly this, allowing clients to choose a portfolio of properties. Other platforms, such as Arrived, allow retail investors to pick and choose individual properties they want a stake in. That allows more choice, a selling point the company leans on — but also, potentially, more risk. The ability to handpick individual houses to invest in allows retail investors, who by definition don’t have the same resources as professional investors, to potentially put all their eggs in the wrong baskets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fQG62M">
|
||
Unsurprisingly, there’s a price to pay for the convenience of having a company purchase, improve, list, and manage a property. Fractional real estate investing comes with a panoply of listing fees, management fees, and selling fees. The amounts differ by company and property type. On Arrived, vacation rentals have property management fees of up to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1942208/000194220823000014/arrivedstr-1apos9.htm">25 percent</a> of all rents and fees made from the rental.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Tl47T">
|
||
“The fees, I think, are not low,” says Heier. “I think there’s room for improvement there for sure.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BIkYuH">
|
||
Are the high fees worth it? That depends on what returns look like. So far, Arrived has raised over $76 million to fund more than 200 properties. It <a href="https://arrived.com/blog/q4-2022-results/">paid out $1.2 million</a> in dividends in Q4 of 2022. Annualized yields on the 192 properties last year ranged between 2 percent and 7.9 percent; in a breakdown of <a href="https://arrived.com/returns">historical returns</a>, for example, <a href="https://arrived.com/returns">two of its Arkansas properties</a> — both purchased almost two years ago — boast returns of more than 100 percent. But the vast majority delivered much more modest returns. Thirty-five of the properties have depreciated in value as of January 2023.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Y03u6R">
|
||
Investors are snapping up homes, with worrisome results
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQrWCg">
|
||
Real estate investing is experiencing an incredible boom: Investors made up 28 percent of all single-family home sales in the first quarter of 2022, according to a <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_State_Nations_Housing_2022.pdf">report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies</a>; in some parts of the country, the share purchased by investors is even higher — they <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/06/26/housing-market-and-home-price-boom-made-bigger-by-investors-and-wall-street/">made up 41 percent of home sales</a> in Atlanta in the first quarter of 2022. Between 2017 and 2019, the share nationally was about 16 percent. Single-family home rentals are in high demand, and rents for these rose faster than apartment rents between Q1 of 2021 and 2022.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zrmo18">
|
||
That might be great for investors, but pernicious for the families who live in these homes. Investors getting in on the single-family home market aren’t the primary cause of high rents climbing even higher, but they do often worsen the experience of renting.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jJSprS">
|
||
“What are the sorts of practices that they have to engage in in order to deliver these lucrative returns?” asked Nemoy Lewis, a professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University’s school of urban and regional planning. For real estate investment models to deliver decent returns, high rents and “lean” management practices were basically a given. “You have to have an expeditious eviction practice,” Lewis says, which means that investors are likely to buy up properties in jurisdictions that allow quick evictions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TN9yrP">
|
||
In a city like Atlanta, for example, the growth of investor-owned single-family homes has led to extra fees, fewer or more delayed landlord services — with services becoming increasingly digitized or automated — and a marked increase in eviction filings. These filings aren’t just a way to kick out tenants, but a way to threaten them into paying fees that tenants are trying to dispute, reporting by the <a href="https://www.ajc.com/american-dream/renter-evictions/">Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a> revealed. There is no minimum grace period for late rent, and Atlanta landlords can file a <a href="https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/inside-fulton-county/fulton-county-departments/marshal/evictions">dispossessory proceeding</a> the day after rent is due and begin the eviction process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h4LgHv">
|
||
One of the biggest institutional landlords in the nation, Progress Residential, has been accused of trying to rent out homes that are far from move-in ready, such as a home that had been ruined by an electrical fire, according to the AJC report. Local government agencies in Atlanta have tried to enforce criminal charges against investor landlords for failing to make their homes habitable, but the fact that these landlords are out of state makes enforcement difficult.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9BBoVV">
|
||
Renters are fed up with the quality of life in investor-owned rentals, says Katie Goldstein, director of housing and health care campaigns at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). “How do you make money in real estate?” Goldstein asked. “You often are trying to reduce the amount of services, or raise rents on tenants.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m6lp4b">
|
||
In 2021, CPD launched Renters Rising, a campaign to organize a national tenants union to take on corporate landlords. “Something you see systematically is corporate landlords neglecting repairs on the property,” says Amee Chew, a senior research analyst at CPD. Tenants that Renters Rising are organizing with have cited problems with rodents, even walls coming apart from their floors, mold, and much more, while their distant landlords ignored them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KR4Wez">
|
||
Across the nation, tenants have complained of rising rents, higher eviction rates, and concerns over properties falling into disrepair under big landlords. Last year, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/12/invitation-homes-corporate-landlord-permits/">Washington Post investigation</a> found evidence that major corporate landlord Invitation Homes had frequently hired contractors who performed shoddy, unpermitted renovations. (A spokesperson for the company told the Post that it expected its third-party contractors to comply with “applicable laws and regulations, including permitting laws.”)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Three people outside a modest home with a rent sign on its lawn." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VbZdsYykk9h8-4Fj9xmESPhbldM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24471275/563977367.jpg"/> <cite>Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Executives from Invitation Homes tour a Los Angeles-area home that the company purchased, renovated, and turned into a rental property.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OKgovB">
|
||
Fractional real estate companies say they’re providing a much-needed opportunity for small, individual investors — the opposite of Wall Street. But the companies themselves are backed by venture capital. Hundreds of individual investors jointly own many properties across the nation, using third-party management companies to find and communicate with tenants.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ENE9tT">
|
||
More investors also means there are fewer homes available, especially for first-time homebuyers who are low- to middle-income. “They’re buying up huge swaths of neighborhoods and housing, many in <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/07/22/investors-bought-a-quarter-of-homes-sold-last-year-driving-up-rents">historically Black and Latinx communities</a>,” Goldstein says. <a href="https://www.ajc.com/american-dream/investor-owned-houses-atlanta/">Atlanta</a> and <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news/investors-bought-record-number-of-homes-in-majority-black-cities-like-detroit-in-2021-according-to-report-29363791">Detroit</a> have particularly high proportions of recent home purchases made by investors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nVfxY2">
|
||
“If you have entities who are buying a lot of the properties that would have been available to first-time homebuyers from racialized communities or from economically disenfranchised households, it’s helping to exacerbate the wealth gap,” says Lewis.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="7mJu4w">
|
||
So, do small investors benefit?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OjAnZS">
|
||
This is the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/05/retail-investing-pe-real-estate">age of the retail investor</a>. During the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyones-a-day-trader-now-11595649609">pandemic</a>, there was a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/a-large-chunk-of-the-retail-investing-crowd-got-their-start-during-the-pandemic-schwab-survey-shows.html">sharp rise in the number of Americans investing</a>, whether in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-18/crypto-traders-in-us-surged-149-to-2-3-million-as-pandemic-hit">crypto</a> or the conventional stock market for the first time. And who can forget the <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22249458/gamestop-stock-wallstreetbets-reddit-citron">incredible, baffling GameStop surge</a> in 2021 driven by retail investors on Reddit?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p8lYVI">
|
||
But not everyone is excited by fractional real estate investing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xGptR4">
|
||
“As an industry, it makes no sense to me,” says L.D. Salmanson, CEO of real estate data analytics company Cherre. A fractional market works for commercial real estate, he says, because commercial real estate tends to be a lot more expensive, and so institutional investors who have a lot of capital and a sophisticated knowledge of specific housing markets might band together. But fractional ownership for retail traders is “just a fancy way of saying, ‘Give me money, I’ll get fees, but I’m not promising anything.’”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iQ4q76">
|
||
“If I’m even a mediocre investor, I’d still go to a REIT.” REITs can give investors more exposure to real estate, with more diversification — an investor would be less likely to put their eggs in one housing market basket. “At that same level of risk, I could have gotten a higher return,” says Salmanson. “Or I could have gotten the same return at a lower risk.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7LLC0Z">
|
||
Right now, mortgage <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/mortgage-demand-drops-interest-rates-jump.html">interest rates are high</a>, and institutional real estate investors are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-12/housing-slowdown-chills-investors-who-supercharged-us-market">slowing down amid recession fears</a>. The return on investment is lower now, to the point where some institutional investors are getting out, according to Ted Tozer, a non-resident fellow at the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center. “It’s always an interesting situation when the institutional guys back off and you start having retail [investors] come in,” Tozer says. That in itself can be a warning sign that the rental market is hitting a cap. If capital starts being raised from individuals instead of institutional investors, that means retail investors are actually buying out the positions of the more sophisticated institutional investors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1emr6u">
|
||
“I think we have a really credulous society,” Salmanson says. “We love taking risks. We love being part of the American dream of ownership of property.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="befAux">
|
||
Even Heier advised less experienced investors not to go too deep on fractional real estate investing. He’s an accredited investor, an SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/education/capitalraising/building-blocks/accredited-investor">designation</a> that requires either some kind of professional expertise or a net worth of more than $1 million or an annual income of at least $200,000. “If you have $5,000 in the stock market, and that’s your total investments, then I don’t really think you should be jumping off into all of these other platforms,” he says. “I think you probably want to build a strong base of assets in the traditional markets first.” Heier has been building his investment portfolio since 2014 and also runs Asset Scholar, a website providing information on alternative investing options.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sSbVCDimIATOcoCDvtKQRegplLs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24471466/GettyImages_1247348536.jpg"/> <cite>Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A “for sale” sign hangs outside of a home in Atlanta last month. The Atlanta market in particular has flooded with investors looking for properties to turn into rentals.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6UYcE4">
|
||
Frazier pushed back on the notion that retail investors were in danger. “I think you could argue really the same thing 20 years ago with the stock market — should retail investors have access to buy individual companies, did they have enough information to buy those companies? I think, in general, we’re just kind of going through that same phase in the real estate cycle.” He added that Arrived was run by an experienced institutional real estate team. “Our investments team comes from some of the largest single-family REITs in the country,” he says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="IsBi3L">
|
||
Tech’s role in transforming the housing market
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PdqJUH">
|
||
Investors are wont to say that the boom in real estate investing is merely a reflection of what happens when there’s high demand and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1109345201/theres-a-massive-housing-shortage-across-the-u-s-heres-how-bad-it-is-where-you-l">historically low housing supply</a> — prices go up, and savvy investors can make a pretty profit. But focusing only on supply ignores how specific tech-fueled innovations in real estate have led to crowding out people looking for a home to purchase and live in, or have made it less pleasant to live in their home.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5uhrUV">
|
||
While real estate investors are still a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/housing-market-investors/">minority of homeowners</a>, they hold a disproportionate amount of power in the housing market — and as Desiree Fields, professor of geography and global metropolitan studies at UC Berkeley, wrote in a <a href="https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research-areas/working-papers/big-capital-precision-technologies-and-structural-power-us-housing">paper</a> published earlier this year, big investors wouldn’t have gained so much market share in the aftermath of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis if it weren’t for “innovations like cloud and mobile computing, digital platform architectures and business models, and massive data sets and the algorithms that sort them.” Fields concludes that the growth of “click-to-invest” real estate platforms is more likely to lead to further consolidation of corporate power in housing than to democratize it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LXuDHs">
|
||
It’s also true that real estate tech platforms have contributed to the constrained housing supply. Take the now-ubiquitous model of online vacation rentals, for example. “Some owners might choose not to rent out their particular property because they know they can make a lot more money off Airbnb, on a monthly basis, as opposed to collecting monthly rent,” says Lewis, the urban planning professor. Such a low-vacancy housing market also allows landlords to become more selective and potentially discriminatory.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aUMkok">
|
||
Fractional real estate investing — or any kind of real estate investing — isn’t the progenitor of unaffordable housing nor the primary driver of it. But each new trend and paradigm selling a way for investors to profit from the tight housing market reinforces the financialization of housing that has swept the economy over the last few decades. The advent of digital platforms and automated systems has only accelerated the commodification of housing as a high-yield asset class.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="IMkop7">
|
||
<q>Real estate tech platforms have contributed to the constrained housing supply. Take the now-ubiquitous model of online vacation rentals, for example. </q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P14NIZ">
|
||
The truth is that there’s something off about the oft-touted narrative that homeownership is the pillar of the middle class, the way for families to gain and hold onto some financial security. For one, it simply hasn’t been true for all Americans. It has historically been a wealth-building tool for white people. Not only did discriminatory policies like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/realestate/what-is-redlining.html">redlining</a> exclude Black Americans from getting mortgages, the benefits of the 1944 GI Bill, which included free education and affordable mortgages for veterans and were key to building middle-class prosperity in post-war America, were mostly unavailable to Black veterans.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q2wBpH">
|
||
Even today, Black homeownership <a href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/101160/explaining_the_black-white_homeownership_gap_2.pdf">trails that of white Americans</a>. Does that mean the way forward is to give up on owning a home to live in, and jumping in instead as an eager investor angling for a piece of the real estate pie? Even if these new investing platforms are for average-Joe investors, are they a solution or just worsening the problem of unreachable homeownership, leaving only crumbs for those looking for a home to actually live in?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uF8MuG">
|
||
“The farce of the American dream is homeownership,” says Gipson, the Bay Area fractional investor. “It’s what we’ve all been sold on since we were born, or since we moved here to the United States.” He sees fractional real estate investing as a stopgap, not a solution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mv8upy">
|
||
“If someone is able to invest $10, $50, even $1,000 into a home and reap the benefits, rather than it only being accessible to people willing and able to invest $50,000 or $100,000 — I see it as better,” he says. “It sucks either way, but I may as well make a few bucks off of it.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murdering his wife and son</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="US-NEWS-MURDAUGH-1-CS" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/f5HyQR8__-o342xsBdBalPK7Ddw=/112x0:1889x1333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71933581/1246706352.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Alex Murdaugh and defense attorney Dick Harpootlian review evidence during his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina. | Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After a lengthy, dramatic trial, the saga of the Murdaugh murders came to a swift conclusion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A7wuxa">
|
||
The trial of Alex Murdaugh, the man at the center of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23287648/alex-murdaugh-murder-accused-wife-son-family">one of the most byzantine true crime cases</a> in recent memory, lasted six weeks — but in the end, the jury only needed a few hours to return a verdict in the case: guilty.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tuoYOH">
|
||
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning with a unanimous verdict that Murdaugh had killed his wife, Maggie, and his second son, Paul, as part of an elaborate attempt to hide his decades of embezzlement, fraud, and addiction.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oyD5QA">
|
||
Shortly after the verdict, the defense called for a mistrial, only to be swiftly denied. Circuit court Judge Clifton Newman cited the “overwhelming amount of testimony” indicating Murdaugh’s guilt. Newman has scheduled Murdaugh’s sentencing for March 3.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="1m2ZbO">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Following the guilty verdict, Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers attempted to make a motion for a mistrial, which the judge promptly denied, saying: <br/><br/>‘The evidence of guilt is overwhelming. I deny the motion.’ <a href="https://t.co/Gy2OKc0TYI">pic.twitter.com/Gy2OKc0TYI</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— NowThis (<span class="citation" data-cites="nowthisnews">@nowthisnews</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1631448548934926339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2023</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wCzjKg">
|
||
After frustration at various points with how long each side was taking to present its case, prosecutor Creighton Waters took an entire day to summarize a lengthy case, using presentation slides to explain legal points to the jury and emphasizing the mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing to Murdaugh’s guilt.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cyIXcW">
|
||
The defense then took its turn, focusing on the theory that investigators rushed to judgment in accusing Alex and did not properly investigate the crime scene. Attorney Jim Griffin accused investigators of “fabricating evidence against Alex” and argued that Murdaugh’s “longtime drug issues … made him an easy, easy target.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h6OKCf">
|
||
The final day of the trial got off to a surprise start, with one juror having to be removed and replaced with an alternate. A member of the public notified Judge Newman that the juror had been improperly speaking about the case; an investigation found the juror had spoken about the case to at least three people against strict instructions to keep mum, including giving her opinion about Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence. The juror then further bemused the court by revealing she’d left a dozen eggs in the jury room, apparently brought by another juror, and requesting the bailiff retrieve them so she could take them with her. (To be fair, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/briefing/why-eggs-cost-so-much.html">eggs are expensive</a>!) Newman, who’s become a popular figure with the tens of thousands of daily viewers of the courtroom livestream, remarked, “We get a lot of interesting things, but now a dozen eggs…”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wf9JuI">
|
||
The eggs were far from the only head-turning moment in the trial; in fact, the Murdaugh trial just might be the first high-profile true crime case to feature both chickens <em>and</em> eggs. It’s a trial that’s seen multiple moments of dramatic testimony, much of it continually emphasizing extremely graphic details of the crime scene, with lawyers often belaboring seemingly irrelevant details like hog hunting and guinea fowl. After weeks of trial revelations, Murdaugh unexpectedly took the stand on February 23<strong> </strong>to testify in his defense against the charge that he murdered his wife and son in 2021.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ufxez">
|
||
On the stand, a teary-eyed Murdaugh haltingly professed his innocence — but then immediately admitted to lying to the police about his whereabouts at the time<strong> </strong>Maggie and Paul were fatally shot. In a remarkable reversal, Murdaugh, in rambling, tearful testimony, placed himself at the scene of the crime — the family’s estate.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="N8RmCB">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
‘I didn’t shoot my wife or my son anytime — ever.’<br/><br/>Taking the stand in his own defense, Alex Murdaugh admitted to lying to investigators when questioned about his wife Maggie and son Paul’s deaths, but denied shooting either one. <a href="https://t.co/upU0Zp6oGu">pic.twitter.com/upU0Zp6oGu</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— NowThis (<span class="citation" data-cites="nowthisnews">@nowthisnews</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1628785576349700096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e1G6lf">
|
||
In a truly bizarre scene, Murdaugh’s lawyer led him through an involved anecdote detailing where he was at the time of the murders. While placing himself at the estate, Murdaugh claimed he had a shower, then went down to the kennels briefly — long enough to free a chicken from a bird dog — then left immediately again and returned to the house. The testimony explains why Murdaugh seemed to be clearly caught on video in the background of his son Paul’s last Snapchat video, but conveniently put him inside during the murders.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xNclrZ">
|
||
Murdaugh’s testimony was full of unrelated tangents about everything from where an acquaintance’s son played baseball to the Krispy Kreme doughnuts he brought his father earlier in the day. He spent roughly 10 minutes discussing the bird dogs in the kennel, to no apparent point beyond establishing that he had indeed been at the kennels. He did, however, get a chuckle from the audience when he described trying to revive a chicken that one of the dogs had caught.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UOUxUq">
|
||
According to Murdaugh, he returned to the house for a while but drove back to the kennels when he couldn’t get Maggie or Paul to answer their phones. “I saw what y’all have seen pictures of,” he said, indicating he found their bodies and then called 911. Murdaugh frequently stopped and sobbed and asked for water.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pj1bGU">
|
||
The trial for the 2021 murder of Murdaugh’s wife and son, which finally began on January 23, was anything but a routine affair. Alongside his indictment last year for the double homicide, Alex Murdaugh (pronounced “Alec Murdoch”) also faces over 100 counts of financial crimes including fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and tax evasion. The Murdaugh trial brought us bizarre and gruesome opening statements, a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/15/17357684/yanny-or-laurel-audio">yanny/laurel</a>” moment in the courtroom, and a head-spinning defense mistake.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="qGDK86">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0Sdoc">
|
||
Going into trial, the case against Alex Murdaugh seemed largely circumstantial — but there were a staggering amount of circumstances, implicating Murdaugh in not one, not two, but <em>five</em> suspicious deaths since 2015. (Check out our <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23287648/alex-murdaugh-murder-accused-wife-son-family">explainer</a> on the head-turning twists in this case for the full picture.) As a member of an elite South Carolina family of high-powered lawyers, Murdaugh gained a local reputation for being able to manipulate the justice system and bend other people to his will, all with very little accountability. That all changed in 2019 with the death of Paul’s friend’s girlfriend, Mallory Beach, in a boating incident. Paul was allegedly piloting the boat while drunk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WYoh6J">
|
||
Throughout the ensuing investigation, Alex drew scrutiny for attempting to obstruct any potential prosecution against his son, which only raised more questions about other suspicious deaths to which he had ties. These included the 2011 death of Hakeem Pinckney, a client whose insurance payout Alex allegedly stole; the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, a gay college student who was rumored to have connections to his other son, Buster; and the 2018 death of the Murdaughs’ housekeeper Gloria Satterfield from a mysterious head injury incurred at the Murdaugh estate, after which Alex allegedly embezzled life insurance money from her family. Speculation only increased following the double homicide of Maggie and Paul, which took place on the Murdaugh estate on June 7, 2021. Alex’s behavior after their deaths didn’t alleviate suspicion; he was subsequently <a href="https://www.wtoc.com/2021/09/15/man-arrested-connection-shooting-alex-murdaugh-charged-with-assisted-suicide/">arrested for insurance fraud</a> after reportedly hiring someone to kill him and stage it to look like a murder.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mtcmgx">
|
||
By this point, the Murdaughs were making national headlines, so when Alex <a href="https://www.wltx.com/article/news/crime/alex-murdaugh-appears-in-bond-court-today-colleton-county-on-murder-charges-walterboro-southcarolina/101-b419c6af-853c-4512-b8e2-178c1d445042">pleaded not guilty</a> to the two murder charges in 2022, he guaranteed a media circus of a trial. But you need more than just proximity to a string of murders to secure a conviction, and with all eyes on the Colleton County Courthouse, where the trial began, questions about what actual evidence the state had against Alex loomed large.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="38UutX">
|
||
Here’s what we’ve learned.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="WXaCRk">
|
||
Both attorneys in this case had a flair for the dramatic
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HCuUym">
|
||
Opening statements kicked off with a bang on January 23. After a jury selection process that winnowed a pool of over 900 candidates down to 12 jurors and six alternates, chief prosecutor Creighton Waters led by describing Maggie and Paul’s injuries — two shots for Paul with a shotgun, at least five shots with an assault-style rifle for Maggie — and actually <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/horrific-details-revealed-opening-murder-155238432.html">saying</a>, “Pow, pow!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0e0SsO">
|
||
“It’s complicated. It’s a journey,” he told jurors, describing the whole case as a puzzle they were slowly putting together. He laid out the evidence, much of it new and much of it forensic, that the jury could expect to hear, including gunshot residue all over Murdaugh’s clothes and car, and cellphone evidence that apparently debunks Murdaugh’s alibi.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dvE1iC">
|
||
Then, with Alex Murdaugh openly weeping at parts, his defense lawyer, Richard “Dick” Harpootlian, gave quizzical instructions to the jury: “He didn’t do it, and you need to put any thought that he did from your mind,” he told them. “There’s no direct evidence. There’s no eyewitnesses. There’s nothing on camera. There’s no fingerprints. There’s no forensics tying him to the crime. None.” He also repeatedly asserted that Paul and Maggie were “butchered,” which arguably didn’t help his case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eKpdJs">
|
||
“He didn’t do it. He didn’t kill — butcher — his son and his wife, and you need to put out of your mind any speculation that he did.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oLlQxo">
|
||
When he’s not serving in the South Carolina state Senate, the 74-year-old Harpootlian is a <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/alex-murdaugh-s-defense-attorneys-who-are-dick-harpootlian-and-jim-griffin/article_f82b4fda-9807-11ed-bcf5-07e8a3110bdf.html">veteran trial attorney</a> who’s worked as both prosecutor and defense lawyer, known for hoodwinking opponents at trial with sneaky but effective tactics. In the Murdaugh trial, he was bringing his particular dramatic flair to the courtroom long before opening statements began, attempting to <a href="https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/08/29/murdaugh-murders-saga-fireworks-in-court-after-dick-harpootlian-drops-bombshell-motion/">overturn a protective order</a> in August and accusing the prosecution of withholding crucial evidence from the defense. There’s no evidence that was true, but it did indicate that we could expect some grandstanding along the way.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="nVOGEg">
|
||
Alex Murdaugh’s alibi turned out to be a bust
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="morswf">
|
||
In Alex’s now-infamous <a href="https://www.wistv.com/video/2021/07/22/raw-audio-state-authorities-release-call-made-by-alex-murdaugh-connection-murder-case/">911 call</a> on the day of the murders, he claimed he arrived at his family’s dog kennels at their “Moselle” estate after spending some time with his mother, only to find the bodies of his wife and son. Prosecutors allege instead that he lured his family there (his sudden interest in getting her out to the heavily wooded house prompted Maggie to <a href="https://people.com/crime/alex-murdaugh-allegedly-lured-wife-cabin-texted-friend-seemed-fishy/">text a friend</a> that he was “acting fishy”) and shot them with two different weapons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="740JWY">
|
||
To try to prove it, the prosecution opened with a never-before-seen cellphone video from Paul’s phone shortly before the murders. While at the kennels, Paul <a href="https://www.courttv.com/title/exhibit-paul-murdaughs-cell-phone-video-before-killings/">took a video</a> of himself playing with one of the dogs. Prosecutors argued that in the background, you can hear two additional voices — implying that one of them is Maggie and the other is Alex.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sF2wew">
|
||
Prosecutors alleged that this video, which was filmed on Paul’s phone at 8:44 pm, took place roughly five minutes before the shootings, based on when Paul and Maggie stopped looking at their phones and replying to texts. That would place Alex firmly at the scene before the murders, contradicting his version of the timeline. Alex Murdaugh ultimately admitted that his previous claim he hadn’t been at the kennels was a lie.<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BZBvdE">
|
||
The prosecution’s reliance on this video was crucial, since they don’t have <a href="https://wach.com/news/local/live-blog-murdaugh-murder-trial-day-8-court-to-dive-deeper-into-cellphone-records-alex-murdaugh-wciv-maggie-paul-son-wife-father-maggie-speaking-from-the-grave">GPS location data</a> from Alex’s phone on the night of the murders. Activity data from Alex’s phone, on the other hand, indicates about an hour within the time frame before the murders during which no steps were recorded, indicating Alex could have been driving a vehicle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mH6X2f">
|
||
On the opening day of testimony, the court viewed Alex’s initial, half-hour interview with police, which occurred shortly after the murders. In that footage, Alex is wearing a shirt that appears to be completely clean, and speaks in a way that has led to questions about whether he is faking tears. Investigators on the scene were initially suspicious of Alex because of his overall calm demeanor when discussing details.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="Fi6JeQ">
|
||
<div>
|
||
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<h3 id="TkZpJ2">
|
||
A lot of this forensic evidence <em>is</em> circumstantial — but that doesn’t make it any less damning
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Ww9nh">
|
||
Forensic evidence in the case was thin — but what was there was compelling. For example, on February 3, fingerprint expert Thomas Darnell testified that he couldn’t identify specific prints on the gun or phones found at the scene, so hopes of a telltale fingerprint Alex may have left behind seemed dashed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nf7jAM">
|
||
Among the key evidence the prosecution provided was ballistics evidence, mainly pertaining to gunshot residue found on Alex’s clothing and all over his car, including the seat and seatbelt. In his opening statement, Waters also promised the jury they would learn about a blue raincoat that Murdaugh apparently took and left at his mother’s house following the murders — which had gunshot residue all over the inside.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UZt9zU">
|
||
But gunshot residue, though compelling, is still shaky forensically — it can transfer to a person who simply holds a gun without firing it, and it can transfer easily from one person to another. The defense claimed the gunshot residue was due to Alex picking up one of the guns after the murder, though it didn’t address why Alex would do that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0QfsSi">
|
||
The presence of gunshot residue, however, presented a mini-mystery: It <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/alex-murdaugh-trial-blood?bfsource=relatedmanual">didn’t explain</a> why Alex’s clothes largely appear to have no bloodstains, mud, or any dirt from contacting the victims. In Alex’s telling, he checked the bodies of his wife and son to see if they were still alive. This lack of residue could have been a mark in favor of the defense (he didn’t shoot them, so he didn’t get blood on himself) or for the prosecution (he changed clothes to hide the blood or wore the raincoat to protect himself from splatter). <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/sc-prosecutors-rethinking-murdaugh-blood-spatter-evidence-after-defense-pokes-holes/article_d978048e-773c-11ed-95be-df0951d8e329.html"></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZqvuH2">
|
||
Much of the other ballistics evidence was more damning — evidence that the defense had <a href="https://www.courttv.com/news/prosecutors-defense-argue-guns-bad-acts-in-murdaugh-trial/">previously fought</a> and failed to exclude. The prosecution claimed simply that the ammunition used to kill Alex’s wife and son matched ammo found all over the Murdaughs’ considerable estate. Specifically, the 300 Blackout rounds used to kill Maggie and the 12-gauge shotgun shells used to kill Paul both matched ammunition on the estate. Examples of matching ammo included unused boxes in the family “gun room” and spent shell casings found around the estate’s hunting grounds. Witnesses also <a href="https://www.blufftontoday.com/story/news/crime/2023/01/30/alex-murdaugh-trial-week-two-opens-with-firearm-evidence-cross-examinations-murder-sc/69853621007/">testified</a> that Murdaugh had a customized AR-15-style rifle made for him. This type of gun is compatible with the bullets used to kill Maggie and aligns with the evidence that Murdaugh used such a rifle to kill her. Expert testimony also painted a graphic picture of the way Murdaugh allegedly “ambushed” his victims, attacking Paul with one gun first before opening fire on Maggie.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="hbeWDD">
|
||
“I” vs. “they,” and other unanswered questions
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KT6H9F">
|
||
One investigator claimed on the stand in late January that, while speaking to him through tears, Murdaugh said, “I did him so bad,” referring to the state of Paul’s body. This led to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/alex-murdaugh-trial-i-they-son-murder-dress?d_id=5438392&ref=bftwbuzzfeed&utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bftwbuzzfeed">a melodramatic exchange</a> in which the defense provided a slowed-down version of the frankly indecipherable audio in question and asked him whether he heard “I” or “they.” While the agent stuck to his original claim that he heard the word “I,” the Rorschach nature of the audio only underscored that thus far, the state’s evidentiary case had been lacking in hard evidence.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="2eI2zt">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Griffin plays the “I/They” audio. He plays it in real-time and slowed down at 1/3 speed. <br/><br/>Agt. Croft still says he doesn’t hear “they”. <br/><br/>Griffin: You agree the jury gets to decide.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlexMurdaugh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AlexMurdaugh</a> <a href="https://t.co/9MSgtE81z0">pic.twitter.com/9MSgtE81z0</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Cathy Russon (<span class="citation" data-cites="cathyrusson">@cathyrusson</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/cathyrusson/status/1620448883951439872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2023</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<h3 id="kHOaKF">
|
||
A “humanizing” birthday video — and a major defense mistake that opened the door to a shocking timeline reveal
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ByzZhb">
|
||
On February 1, the defense unexpectedly entered <a href="https://www.courttv.com/title/exhibit-alex-murdaughs-birthday-video/">a short video</a> into exhibit that showed Alex celebrating his birthday at home with family and friends. The video showed Alex smiling and laughing as a group gathers around to sing “Happy Birthday.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0SSox9">
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But the video, which the defense introduced to show a softer side of the defendant, had an unexpected consequence: Because it introduced a character argument into the trial, it <a href="https://www.crimeonline.com/2023/02/02/murdaugh-family-murders-video-of-loving-alex-at-birthday-opened-the-door-to-evidence-about-financial-fraud/">created an opening for</a> a wealth of prosecutorial evidence that the judge had previously ruled inadmissible: Alex Murdaugh’s alleged years of financial fraud and related schemes, which were unraveling in the lead-up to the murders of his wife and son.
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6smYJ">
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||
The sudden reintroduction of all this evidence meant that the trial was halted several times throughout the week to allow the judge to entertain whether specific pieces of testimony will be admitted. Some of that testimony, given without the jury present, has included allegations that Alex created fraudulent bank accounts, as well as tearful testimony given on February 2 from one of Murdaugh’s former best friends, attorney Chris Wilson.
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ybVqM">
|
||
<a href="https://www.counton2.com/the-murdaugh-investigation/judge-newman-to-rule-on-motive-evidence-in-alex-murdaugh-murder-trial/">Wilson testified</a> that despite their lifelong close friendship, Murdaugh manipulated him after their firms worked together on a lawsuit. When the time came to split the proceeds, Wilson claimed that Alex had asked him to make out a $792,000 settlement check directly to him, Alex Murdaugh, instead of to his law firm. When Wilson called him out, Murdaugh returned $600,000 to him but asked Wilson to front him the other $192,000. Wilson did, and Murdaugh never paid him back the money. Wilson’s testimony was the most emotional point of the trial<strong> </strong>thus far, with both he and Murdaugh appearing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYKlJusOIM">visibly moved</a>. “I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still loved him a little bit,” Wilson said, “but I was so mad.”
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2qQTM2">
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||
The same day, the judge heard from Jeanne Seckinger, chief financial officer of the Parker Law Group, the firm where Murdaugh worked until he resigned in September 2021. <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/local/live-blog-murdaugh-murder-trial-day-9-will-alexs-financial-crimes-enter-the-spotlight-maggie-paul-99-charges-stealing-lawyer-south-carolina-victims-son-wife-mother-colleton-county-family-walterboro-sc-wciv">Seckinger revealed</a> that she had confronted Alex on the morning of the murders about the missing $792,000 settlement check from Wilson — funds she believed he had kept for himself rather than turn over to the law firm. She said Alex gave her “a dirty look” and told her he had the funds and would return them soon. (Seckinger is the <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/ex-murdaugh-banker-russell-laffitte-faces-federal-witnesses-at-2nd-day-of-fraud-trial/article_bcecfb32-5f7a-11ed-8324-2fa482f2b182.html">sister-in-law</a> of another player in this saga — Russell Laffitte, a former bank CEO who was <a href="https://www.live5news.com/2022/11/23/jury-russell-laffitte-convicted-murdaugh-conspirator-found-guilty-all-six-charges/">convicted last year</a> of financial crimes connected to Murdaugh’s alleged financial schemes.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XuVSIy">
|
||
This startling news put the timeline of Maggie and Paul’s death in a new perspective. It also pointed toward the prosecution’s theory that Alex’s motive for the double homicide may have been to distract the firm from his alleged embezzlement and buy himself time to recover the funds. By Seckinger’s account, it worked: “Nobody wanted to harass him” after the murders, she said, describing him as “distraught and upset and not in the office much.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3Pq6PL">
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||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p45lFE">
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HTmJQb">
|
||
The question of motive remained somewhat murky throughout the trial, despite all the damning evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes. The prosecution leaned into the idea that Murdaugh wanted to gain sympathy for himself by killing his wife and son, while drawing on the insurance money — and we know that he wanted that for his remaining son, Buster, because he later admitted to trying to stage his own murder to make it happen. As far-fetched as it might seem<strong> </strong>that a double homicide, timed as it was, would point scrutiny away from Murdaugh, multiple witnesses including Seckinger testified that the murders <em>did</em> take the heat off their investigations into Alex’s misdeeds. In the end, the jury seemed to agree there were just no other suspects who had good reason to kill either Paul or Maggie, or to implicate Alex in their deaths.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZZTOI7">
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||
Still, questions remain: Did he have help? Neither Paul nor Maggie had defensive wounds; it seems unlikely that Alex would have been able to kill them both with different weapons without one or both of them putting up a fight. Given that the evidence points to an “ambush,” per the prosecution’s opening statements, how would Murdaugh be able to kill them both? And if he had help, who was it from? Some have suggested Eddie Smith, the alleged drug dealer who wound up helping Alex stage his botched fake murder attempt. Alex had paid <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/murdaugh-murders/report-alex-murdaugh-paid-eddie-smith-155k-in-months-before-wife-sons-murders">Smith more than $150,000</a> in the months before the murders, but we still don’t really know why.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JklG1A">
|
||
Although the prosecution painted a sweeping and effective portrait of Murdaugh’s guilt at trial, some things about the Murdaugh saga will never quite be resolved. Ultimately, even with Alex finally being brought to justice, this case has left us with more questions than answers — many of which, due to the deaths of Paul and Maggie, will remain forever unanswered.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INPci8">
|
||
<em><strong>Update, March 2, 10 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This story was originally published on February 2 and has been updated multiple times to include the latest developments from the trial. </em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Women’s Premier League: Beginning of new dawn for India’s Gen-Next</strong> - The 21-match tournament will commence on March 4, 2023 with Gujarat Giants taking on India captain Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians in the tournament-opener.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rohit defends nature of pitch, says batters let team down</strong> - We knew what we were getting into, surfaces decided before start of series: India captain</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The result of a clinical team effort, gushes Smith</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India vs Australia third Test in Indore | This is what little complacency and overconfidence can do, says Shastri</strong> - Matthew Hayden too slammed the Indian batters, saying it looked they were playing to save their spots in the team.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Red Bull look to be in a league of their own, says Russell</strong> - Double world champion Max Verstappen says that the new Red Bull car is better than last year’s in every area</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘Not in touch with Congress’, says Swaroop</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reimbursement offered to accommodate poor children under RTE quota is paltry, rue private school managements in Andhra Pradesh</strong> - The per child (annual) expenditure fixed for students who will be shifted to private educational institutions from the govt. sector is ₹8,000 in urban areas, ₹6,500 in rural areas and ₹5,100 in tribal or scheduled areas</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia acted against Ukraine after years of warning, says Sergey Lavrov</strong> - Russian Foreign Minister slams U.S. and NATO for wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>4-lane highways to connect all AP ports at ₹20,000 cr: Nitin Gadkari</strong> - The passing of three industrial corridors, Visakhapatnam - Chennai, Chennai - Bengaluru, and Hyderabad - Bengaluru, through the State has been crucial for this decision.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UDF walks out of Kerala Assembly, accusing government of protecting Shuhaib’s “real killers”</strong> - Congress legislator says former CPI(M) member Akash Thillankeri’s damning disclosure warranted a further investigation under section 173(8) of Cr.PC</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Kyiv orders partial evacuation of liberated city</strong> - Families with children and the disabled people are told to leave Kupiansk in Ukraine’s north-east.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ales Bialiatski: Nobel Prize-winning activist sentenced to 10 years in jail</strong> - Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski was accused of smuggling cash into Belarus to fund protests.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin accuses Ukraine of border ‘terrorist act’ in Russian village</strong> - Kyiv denies Moscow’s claim that Ukrainian saboteurs fired at civilians in a Russian village.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Greece train crash: 57 people confirmed dead as public anger grows</strong> - A coroner tells the BBC that DNA has been collected from 57 bodies, as rail workers strike over the disaster.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US arrests two for illegally exporting aviation tech to Russia</strong> - The men allegedly conspired to skirt US export laws to sell sophisticated aviation equipment to Russia.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden administration wants to hold companies liable for bad cybersecurity</strong> - Amid an onslaught of cyberespionage and ransomware, Biden calls on tech to step up. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921532">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientists have mapped a secret hidden corridor in Great Pyramid of Giza</strong> - The corridor is 30 feet long and likely slopes upward. Where it leads is still a mystery. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921289">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pixel Watch bill of materials estimate can’t explain the sky-high price</strong> - Counterpoint Research says the Pixel Watch costs just $123 to build. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921395">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Developers of disabled third-party Twitter clients ask users to forgo refunds</strong> - Musk’s Twitter abruptly shut off API access for third-party clients in January. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921429">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>With peer group benchmarks, Apple undercuts third-party app analytics tools</strong> - Comparative app metrics debut within App Store Connect. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921356">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I was lost in the woods and I found a dead hooker..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
At that moment I knew I’d been walking in circles.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Response-Cheap"> /u/Response-Cheap </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gk51f/i_was_lost_in_the_woods_and_i_found_a_dead_hooker/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gk51f/i_was_lost_in_the_woods_and_i_found_a_dead_hooker/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What did the Indian kid say to his parents when he left for school</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Mum bai
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Autismic123"> /u/Autismic123 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gx9bb/what_did_the_indian_kid_say_to_his_parents_when/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gx9bb/what_did_the_indian_kid_say_to_his_parents_when/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>(Classic Joke) A woman and her male neighbour each buy greenhouses…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They both decide to grow tomatoes and a few months later they meet up and talk about how they’re getting on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man says his are big and red, but the woman says hers are still green and asks the man his secret.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
‘Everyday I go in the greenhouse naked. The tomatoes are so embarrassed they blush’.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman thinks this is a good idea and decides to give it a go.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They meet again the following month and the man asks about her tomatoes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
‘Still green,’ she replies, ‘but you should see my cucumbers!’
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/uklangor"> /u/uklangor </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11g8j0e/classic_joke_a_woman_and_her_male_neighbour_each/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11g8j0e/classic_joke_a_woman_and_her_male_neighbour_each/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My girlfriend tried to make me have sex on the hood of her Honda Civic. But I refused.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
If I’m going to have sex, it’s going to be on my own Accord.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SionGest"> /u/SionGest </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11g1i1j/my_girlfriend_tried_to_make_me_have_sex_on_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11g1i1j/my_girlfriend_tried_to_make_me_have_sex_on_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I found a woman tied to railway tracks…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Like some old Western TV show. So, I untied her and took her home. Before long we were in bed. The whole night was incredible, we did it, 8, 9 times, I was exhausted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I went to the bar and told all my friends about it..they were green with envy. They asked if she was a good looking woman.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I said I’ve no idea. I never found her head!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Philcycles84"> /u/Philcycles84 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gofz0/i_found_a_woman_tied_to_railway_tracks/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11gofz0/i_found_a_woman_tied_to_railway_tracks/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
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