CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) -- A federal judge has ruled convicted killer and disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh owes an insurance company $14.8 million as punishment for a fraud scheme in which he brazenly stole the proceeds of a multimillion-dollar wrongful death settlement intended for his former housekeeper's children.
The verdict is from a default judgement against Murdaugh handed down in a pending civil insurance fraud lawsuit brought against him and several alleged co-conspirators by the former insurer that paid the settlement, Nautilus Insurance Company.
The lawsuit stems from a fatal homeowners' liability case in which Nautilus alleges and Murdaugh admits he invented a story about how his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, suffered mortal head injuries and later died.
Murdaugh lied to death investigators and Nautilus adjusters, saying Satterfield told him before losing consciousness that she had been knocked down a flight of stairs by the Murdaugh family's dogs when she arrived for work early one morning in February 2018.
Murdaugh almost immediately hatched a scheme to profit off the tragedy, convincing Satterfield's sons to hire his attorney pal Cory Fleming to sue his homeowner's insurance (Nautilus), through which he had $5 million in coverage.
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Murdaugh promised the woman's sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott, he and Fleming would take care of them and make sure they were set for life, leveraging Murdaugh's reputation as a high-dollar verdict winner in the personal injury sphere.
Instead, Murdaugh stole the lion's share of the eventual $3.8 million settlement Fleming negotiated from Nautilus, with Fleming taking a smaller but not insignificant cut. Satterfield's sons didn't receive a dime.
Judge Richard Gergel ordered the default judgment against Murdaugh on Jan. 2, days before the Nautilus case was set to go to to trial in Charleston .
Murdaugh's lawyers in April 2024 informed the court he would not be fighting the civil case after pleading guilty to related criminal charges, adding that Murdaugh admitted to the fraud allegations in the lawsuit and was amenable to a default judgement.
However, Fleming is fighting back and opted to take the Nautilus case to trial. Fleming, like Murdaugh, is serving state and federal prison time for his admitted role as an accomplice to Murdaugh in his multiple fraud schemes.
Nautilus is charging Fleming and his former law firm, Moss & Kuhn, with allegations of conspiracy, unfair trade practices, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, aiding and abetting fraud, unjust enrichment, conversion and racketeering.