Alex Murdaugh indicted on fraud charges over Gloria Satterfield’s death

Convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh was indicted on 22 financial fraud-related charges Wednesday, including cheating his late housekeeper’s estate and insurance providers out of nearly $3.5 million.

The former South Carolina legal scion, 54, allegedly conspired with another attorney to steal ill-gotten settlement funds in the death of longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, 57, the US Attorney’s Office in South Carolina said.

Murdaugh — found guilty in March of the 2021 murder of his wife and son — is accused of directing personal injury attorney Cory Fleming to draft checks totaling almost $3.5 million meant for Satterfield’s estate to his own personal bank account following her 2018 death.

The crime left Satterfield’s sons high-and-dry after their mother’s death, which had been attributed as a “trip and fall accident,” at the family’s South Carolina home.

Murdaugh then orchestrated a scheme whereby he got Satterfield’s grieving children to sue him so he could claim on his house insurance, purchased just months before the housekeeper’s death.

He represented the children in the case, but wrongly claimed a settlement was never reached and stole the payments without their knowledge.

“South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the public’s trust and enrich themselves by fraud, theft, and self-dealing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” US Attorney Adair Boroughs said in a statement Wednesday.

Murdaugh’s lawyers, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian said he is cooperating with federal investigators and they “anticipate the charges brought today will be quickly resolved without a trial.”

Adding to the mystery, it was revealed earlier this month Murdaugh had lied about key details involving Satterfield’s death, including that his family’s dogs caused her fatal fall.

Nautilus Insurance sued Murdaugh and Fleming in May 2022 over the scheme, claiming the men lied about Satterfield’s death to prove liability and get a payout.

Satterfield’s family was ultimately awarded more than $7.5 million over the payments that were stolen by Murdaugh.

Murdaugh’s legal team had claimed he acted alone in the scheme without the help of any co-conspirator, including Fleming. They said Satterfield’s children were also unaware of the alleged insurance fraud.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is continuing to investigate Satterfield’s death after a coroner admitted her death should never have been ruled as “natural” as her injuries were “inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall.”