Alex Murdaugh faces 22 counts of fraud involving stealing his housekeeper’s $4 million life insurance policy and embezzling his family’s law firm for 16 years: the killer faces 480 YEARS in prison and a fine of $13 million
- The federal grand jury’s indictment was unsealed on 22 counts on Wednesday
- Accuses 54-year-old Murdaugh of three counts of defrauding customers and partners
- Murdaugh is serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son
Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a full federal indictment with skimming $3.4 million from his late housekeeper’s insurance policy and defrauding his partners and other clients for 16 years.
The 22-count indictment, unsealed Wednesday, details three separate schemes the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly engaged in stealing money and property from his personal injury clients.
If convicted on all 22 counts of the new charges, which include bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, Murdaugh faces up to 480 years in prison and fines of up to nearly $13 million.
Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said in a statement that their client is cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case and indicated the charges will be resolved quickly and without a trial.
Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been indicted in a sweeping federal indictment detailing three separate schemes by which the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly stole money and property from his personal injury clients
Murdaugh, 54, was convicted in March of murdering his own wife and son and sentenced to two life terms, which he served in South Carolina state penitentiary.
Prosecutors said he stole millions of dollars from clients and partners and found himself in a state of financial disaster that led to the shooting deaths of his 22-year-old son, Paul, and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, in their Colleton County home.
“Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its attorneys,” US Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said in a statement.
“South Carolina residents turn to attorneys when they are most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse public trust and profit from fraud, theft and proprietary trading are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
The new indictment details three financial fraud schemes, including one to skim an insurance settlement following the death of Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
Satterfield died in February 2018 after apparently falling on the steps of the Murdaugh family home.
The indictment, which repeats allegations from previous civil suits, alleges that Murdaugh conspired with Cory Fleming, a Beaufort personal injury attorney, and encouraged Satterfield’s family to sue him for an insurance payment with Fleming as attorney.
Murdaugh’s insurance companies paid the $505,000 and $3,800,000 estate claim. However, the indictment alleges that Murdaugh and Fleming conspired to skim settlement funds for their own personal gain.
Prosecutors named banker Russell Laffitte (left) and Murdaugh’s college friend and suspended attorney Cory Fleming (right) as co-conspirators in the alleged fraud schemes
Prosecutors say Murdaugh ordered the Beaufort attorney to write checks totaling $3,483,431.95 payable to a fake account he set up under the name “Forge.”
Fleming, Murdaugh’s former law student, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to wire fraud, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
From 2011 to 2021, Murdaugh made about $16 million as an attorney while stealing about $9 million from his law firm, client settlement funds and others, according to previous indictments.
Murdaugh faces the following charges in the new indictment:
- One count of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000
- One count of bank fraud, punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000
- Two counts of wire fraud, each punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000
- Three counts of wire fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000
- A count of conspiracy to wire fraud, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000
- Fourteen counts of money laundering, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000
The story develops, others follow.