Photo: Hampton County Detention Center
Disgraced South Carolina attorneyAlex Murdaughhas agreed to pay back $4.3 million from a wrongful death settlement he is accused of stealing from the family of his late housekeeper.
During a bond hearing Monday, Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said that his client had apologized to the family of the housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who worked for him for more than 20 years, and that he “agreed to confessing a judgment of $4.3 million” to her family,News Channel 9,The Island PacketandCNNreport.
A once-prominent member of alegal dynasty in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Murdaugh, 53, came home on the night of June 7, 2021, and found his wife, Maggie, 52, and their youngest son, Paul, 22, shot to death on the grounds of their sprawling estate.
Since then, Murdaugh has been fired from his job at his family’s law firm after being accused of embezzlement, gone to rehab for substance abuse, and arrested on accusations he hired a hitman to shoot him in the head on Sept. 4 so his surviving son could cash in on a $10 million life insurance policy.
From left, Buster Murdaugh, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook
He has been in jail without bond since his Oct. 14, 2021, arrest on a warrant for allegedly misappropriating $4.3 million from Satterfield’s sons.
On Monday, Circuit Judge Alison Renee Lee set bond against Murdaugh for the 48 counts he now faces at $7 million — one of the highest in South Carolina history,The Island Packetreports.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
He is charged with a slew of financial crimes accusing him of stealing more than $6.2 million in settlement and other funds from clients using his deep ties in the legal community and know-how as an attorney to maneuver the complicated ins and outs of the insurance system.
He is facing separate charges in the botched plot to have himself killed on Sept. 4 so his surviving son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.
At Monday’s bond hearing, Murdaugh spoke publicly for the first time since the murders, saying that after deaths of his wife and son, “My world was caving,“The Island Packetreports.
On Sept. 4, he told the court, “I was in the throes of withdrawal, as I had not taken opiates as I had for so long,” he said,The Island Packetreports. “I was grieving.”
He became emotional when he talked about how he knew that his actions would “deeply, deeply hurt every single person that I cared about,” he said,The Island Packetreports.
This includes his family, his late wife’s family, his partners at his law firm, his friends and his clients.
He also spoke about his son Buster, “who’s trying to be a lawyer, who’s one of the best young men I’ve ever known and deserves none of what he’s gotten dumped on him,”
Profiting After Death of Longtime Housekeeper
Satterfield, the family’s longtime housekeeper, died in what authorities have said was a “trip and fall” accident in 2018 at Murdaugh’s home. Amid Murdaugh’s legal woes, authorities have reopened the investigation into Satterfield’s death.
“After the funeral, he came up to the two sons and said, ‘Hey, look, I’m going to recommend that you go see this attorney Cory Fleming, and he’s going to represent you two in the estate and bring claims in connection with your mother’s death,'” Bland told PEOPLE previously.
Gloria Satterfield.Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home
Fleming, an attorney who was an associate of Murdaugh’s, allegedly funneled about $3 million of the $4.3 million in settlement funds to Murdaugh into a fraudulent bank account, court records show.
Murdaugh used the fraudulent account to steal more than $6.2 million from clients and others 2015 to 2021, court records show.
Though a death settlement of $505,000 was approved in Satterfield’s case, Bland told PEOPLE his clients “haven’t been paid one dime since this was settled in 2020.”
Murdaugh’s attorneys have admitted his involvement in the botched suicide plot and in the misappropriation of funds from the Satterfield settlement, as well as his involvement in malfeasance in his law firm. They have blamed his actions on his opioid addiction and his depression following the murders of his wife and son.
Attorneys for Murdaugh and Fleming have not responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment following Monday’s bond hearing.
source: people.com
