Alex Murdaugh directed more than $3.5M away from housekeeper's sons, documents show

Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was responsible for diverting more than $3.5 million in wrongful death lawsuit settlement funds away from the heirs of his deceased housekeeper to a P.O. box in Hampton instead, new court documents filed this week alleged.

The new documents filed with the court Tuesday call on Murdaugh and others tied to the case to be held in contempt of court for violating the orders approving the settlement and to give a testimony under oath to account for their handling of settlement funds.

The sons of former Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield – Michael "Tony" Satterfield and Brian Harriott – were never paid "a dime" after a settlement was reached from their mother's 2018 death on the Murdaugh property from an apparent trip and fall incident, according to court documents.

In that suit, Murdaugh claimed responsibility for Satterfield's death and agreed to help Satterfield's children file a suit against him to receive an insurance claim payout. He introduced them to attorney Corey Fleming, a close friend to Murdaugh, who agreed to handle the claim.

Even though Murdaugh was the defendant in the claim, he acted as the attorney for the personal representative and the estate through his partnership of the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick law firm, court documents state.

Tony Satterfield was the personal representative of Gloria Satterfield's estate until he was advised to transfer his role to Chad Westendorf, the vice president of Palmetto State Bank, in the fall of 2018, according to the court document.

One day later, Fleming filed a petition to approved settlement to gain court permission to access a partial settlement. Judge Carmen Mullen approved the partial settlement, and Gloria Satterfield's relatives were left completely unaware, court documents allege.

Fleming began disbursing settlement funds by sending a check of $403,500 to an account called "Forge."

"This check was not sent to Forge Consulting in Atlanta, Georgia. Rather upon Murdaugh’s directive was sent by Fleming to a P.O. Box address given him by Murdaugh," the court document states.

Then in 2019, Fleming pursued the additional insurance policies and secured an additional settlement in the amount of $3.8 million. He later paid nearly $3 million in settlement funds into the fraudulent "Forge" account.

"Fleming paid the sum of $2,961,911.95 to an account in the name of “Forge” by mailing a check to a PO Box in Hampton, South Carolina, and did so at the direction of Murdaugh," the court document states.

The court documents allege that none of the settlement approvals were properly filed through the Hampton County Clerk of Court, and that Gloria Satterfield's heirs should have been the sole beneficiaries in the suit.

Tuesday's court documents, filed by the Bland Richter, LLP law firm, also made a motion to urge the court to order that all settlement funds be paid to the estate of Gloria Satterfield.

Murdaugh is already facing charges in an alleged fraud scheme involving a botched suicide-for-hire plot. He's facing several other civil lawsuits. And a separate investigation is underway regarding the shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Gloria Satterfield's death, in light of the other investigations, is now being investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division after her cause of death was initially ruled as "natural."

Hampton County Coroner Angie Toper asked SLED to investigate in a letter that stated the "natural" death ruling was inconsistent with injuries she suffered in a trip and fall accident.

In an earlier statement from Alex Murdaugh's former law practice, PMPED, the firm wrote: "We were shocked and dismayed to learn that Alex violated our principles and code of ethics. He lied and he stole from us. No member of PMPED was aware of Alex’s scheme." 

Daniel J. Gross is an investigative watchdog reporter focusing on public safety and law enforcement for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross. Subscribe to The Greenville News at greenvillenews.com/subscribe.