Alex Murdaugh‘s legal trouble is far from over!
The disgraced South Carolina lawyer is already in prison for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul — but now he’s being slammed with more charges! Prosecutors indicted the felon on 22 counts of financial fraud-related charges on Wednesday, including for allegedly stealing insurance money from his late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
As Perezcious readers know, Gloria died following a mysterious trip-and-fall accident while working at the Murdaugh property in 2018. Initially, Alex told authorities his dogs tripped the housekeeper, but earlier this month he walked all that back and admitted he lied about those details in order to gain an insurance payout. With this in mind, it’s still unclear exactly what led to her death.
This bombshell came after her sons accused the ex-attorney of stealing the $4.3 million settlement they were owed. It seems like authorities are now backing up this theory!
Along with the charges, the US Attorney’s Office in South Carolina said the 54-year-old conspired with Cory Fleming, another personal injury lawyer and his close friend, to siphon settlement funds (disguised as “prosecution expenses”) from Gloria’s family. Allegedly, Alex directed Cory to draft checks totaling about $3.5 million to a bank account he used for his own personal needs while Satterfield’s estate never received any money.
Fleming is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to the case, federal prosecutors announced.
But the case involves far more people than just Gloria’s family! The indictment claims Alex ran a decades-long crime spree with at least one local banker (Russell Laffitte) and one fellow attorney to steal more than $8.7 million following three separate schemes! Damn!
Murdaugh has now been accused of money laundering, wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud. At this time, he has not entered a plea. Each charge carries up to 30-20 years behind bars and hefty fines. Since he is already serving life in prison, it’s mostly pointless to stack more years on top. But the feds could also collect money and assets for his victims if he’s convicted. While announcing the charges, US Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a press release:
“Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers. 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.”
According to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office via Greenville News, Alex still faces 102 other criminal charges (!!!) from state and local indictments. So with these latest accusations, he has now been accused of 124 different crimes. Jeez. You can read all about these latest allegations HERE. Reactions? SOUND OFF (below)!
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