By Thad Moore
tmoore@postandcourier.com
Pleading guilty to a felony May 25, Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming said he knew his friend Alex Murdaugh was going to steal money belonging to the family of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper, even if he didn’t know the extent of the scheme.
Fleming, 54, was hired to sue Murdaugh on behalf of the family of Gloria Satterfield, who died a few weeks after falling down the stairs at his Colleton County home in 2018. The Satterfields retained Fleming on Murdaugh’s recommendation, unaware that the two men were close friends and law school roommates.
Fleming told U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel that he thought Murdaugh was going to skim about $100,000 from the $4.3 million that Murdaugh’s insurers agreed to pay to settle with Satterfield’s family.
Instead, Murdaugh, 54, allegedly took every dollar the family was supposed to receive, one of myriad state and federal financial crimes he is accused of committing. Speaking in Charleston’s federal courthouse, Fleming said he thought Murdaugh wanted a cut of the attorney’s fees.
“The way he described it was, he’s gonna get some of this, too,” Fleming said.
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