Former South Carolina House member indicted on federal charges of defrauding legal clients

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A former South Carolina state lawmaker has been indicted on federal allegations that he schemed to defraud his legal clients.

According to court papers, a federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted former Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, a Democrat and attorney, on 10 charges including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Federal prosecutors said that Pendarvis, between 2022 and 2024, negotiated financial settlements on behalf of his clients, but didn't tell them that he had received the funds. Instead, according to the government, Pendarvis — who was at the time serving as a lawmaker representing the Charleston area — allegedly pocketed the money himself, either not telling his clients the money had been obtained, or ultimately giving them lesser sums than what he had negotiated.

In all, according to prosecutors, Pendarvis deposited more half a million dollars into his law firm's trust fund account, from which he paid nothing to clients.

A message left Wednesday with Pendarvis was not immediately returned.

Pendarvis’ law license was suspended last year after a former client accused him of forging his signature to reach a settlement in a lawsuit without his permission. The order issued then by the state Supreme Court didn’t detail why the suspension had been recommended, but the former client — whose initials matched one of the alleged victims detailed in Wednesday's indictment — accused Pendarvis of sending him text messages asking him not to sue over the alleged forgery.

“Let’s handle this (expletive). No need to try and hurt me man. I can help you,” Pendarvis wrote Lewis in text messages filed with the state lawsuit, which is still pending.

First elected in a special election in 2017, he won three full terms before resigning from office about four months after the suspension of his law license.

According to court records, Pendarvis is slated to appear in federal court on Nov. 18.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP