Alex Murdaugh is hit with 22-count fraud indictment over $4m scheme to steal his housekeeper’s life insurance and embezzling from his family law firm for 16 years

Top-flight lawyer convicted of multiple homicide, is facing another 480 years in prison and $13m fine

Prior to his legal travail’s, Murdaugh was a senior partner of the venerable South Carolina law firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1910

Federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Wednesday charges him with 22 counts

Indictment accuses Murdaugh, 54, in three schemes to defraud clients and partners

Murdaugh is serving two life sentences for murdering his wife and son in June 2021

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a sweeping federal indictment outlining three separate schemes the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly used to steal money and property from his personal injury clients

A former high-flying attorney who is currently serving several life sentences after he was convicted of killing his wife and one of his sons, has just been hit with a fresh 22-count indictment for fraud spanning over a decade and half.
Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a sweeping federal indictment alleging that he siphoned $3.4 million from his dead housekeeper’s insurance settlement and defrauded his partners and other clients for 16 years.
Before his precipitous fall into infamy, Alex Murdaugh, was a senior partner of the venerable South Carolina law firm PMPED, founded by his great-grandfather in 1910, which is headquartered in Hampton.
The 22-count indictment unsealed on Wednesday outlines three separate schemes the disgraced South Carolina attorney allegedly used to steal money and property from his personal injury clients.
If convicted on all 22 counts in the new indictment, which includes charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy, Murdaugh would face a total of 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 that the charges would be resolved quickly, without a trial.

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been charged in a sweeping federal indictment outlining three separate schemes used by the former South Carolina attorney to steal money and property from his personal injury clients

Murdaugh, 54, was convicted in March of murdering his own wife and son, and handed two life sentences to serve in South Carolina state prison.
Prosecutors said he stole millions of dollars from clients and partners, and found himself teetering on financial disaster, which led him to fatally shoot his 22-year-old son, Paul, and 52-year-old wife, Maggie, at their Colleton County home.
‘Trust in our legal system begins with trust in its lawyers,’ said US Attorney Adair F. Boroughs in a statement. 
‘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,’ Boroughs added. 

Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in the hospital after she fell down the front stairs of the family’s home on Feb. 2, 2018. He encouraged her sons to sue him to force insurance to pay. He pocketed the payout and informed the family insurers never settled

Murdaugh, banker Russell Laffitte, and personal injury lawyer Cory Fleming allegedly, defrauded Hakeem Pinckney [left] who was paralyzed [right], in a car wreck in 2009. He died two years later aged 21. Murdaugh who earned $4.1m in fees, stole another $1m owed to Hakeem

Angela Plyler and her son Justin were killed in a car wreck in 2005. Her daughters Alania and Hannah, then 12 and nine, were injured but survived. Murdaugh, retained by their family to administer their finances until they turned 18, stole more than $1m

The new indictment describes three financial fraud schemes, including one to siphon an insurance settlement in the aftermath of the death of Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
Satterfield died in February 2018 after appearing to suffer a fall on the stairs of the Murdaugh family home.
The indictment, echoing allegations from prior civil suits, says that Murdaugh conspired with Cory Fleming, a personal injury attorney in Beaufort, and encouraged Satterfield’s family to sue him for an insurance payout using Fleming as their attorney.
Murdaugh’s insurance companies settled the estate’s claim for $505,000 and $3,800,000, but the indictment alleges that Murdaugh and Fleming conspired to siphon settlement funds for their own personal enrichment. 

Banker Russell Laffitte [left], and Murdaugh’s college roommate and suspended lawyer Cory Fleming [right], were named as co-conspirators in the alleged fraud schemes. Murdaugh recommended Fleming to Satterfield’s sons without revealing their relationship

Prosecutors say Murdaugh directed the Beaufort attorney to draft checks totaling $3,483,431.95 made payable to a phony account he set up under the name of ‘Forge.’ 
Fleming, Murdaugh’s former law school classmate, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to court records filed Wednesday. 
From 2011 to 2021, Murdaugh made about $16 million as a lawyer, while stealing about $9 million from his law firm, settlement money for clients and other places, according to prior indictments. 
Murdaugh new indictment: 

One count conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
One count of bank fraud, pp to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
Two counts wire fraud, up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
Three counts wire fraud, up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
One count conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
Fourteen counts money laundering, up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 

From 2011 to 2021, Murdaugh made about $16 million as a lawyer, while stealing about $9 million from his law firm, settlement money for clients and other places, according to prior indictments.