Alex Murdaugh Admits Lying to Insurance Company in Housekeeper’s Death

Convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh admits he lied about his housekeeper’s 2018 death but says he didn’t conspire with anyone else to pocket millions in a settlement with Gloria Satterfield’s family.

Satterfield died after a fall at Murdaugh’s home and worked with the family to reach a settlement with Nautilus Insurance Company. Nautilus filed suit against Murdaugh a year ago, claiming that Murdaugh lied about details surrounding Satterfield’s death.

Murdaugh’s response, filed Monday, said it was true that he lied, WHNS reported. The response says that he encouraged the Satterfields to seek a settlement and arranged for his longtime friend and fellow lawyer Cory Fleming to represent them and for Chad Westendorf from Palmetto State Bank to serve as the representative for the housekeeper’s estate.

Murdaugh also said that he lied when he told the insurance company that his dogs caused the fall and that Satterfield had not come to the Murdaugh house to work on that day. But, he said, he doesn’t remember why she came to the house.

Murdaugh further admitted that the money paid for the settlement went into an account he owned and not to Satterfield’s family.

But, as he did on the stand during testimony in his trial for killing his wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, Murdaugh in this response tries to clear his friends and alleged co-conspirators. The response denies that Fleming, Westendorf, or their companies knew what he was doing and worked with him to do it.

Satterfield’s estate reached an agreement with Fleming and the insurance company in 2021 and with Palmetto State Bank earlier this year.

During the murder trial, Murdaugh testified that the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, Russell Laffitte — who was convicted last year of conspiring to misappropriate bank funds —  “never conspired with me to do anything, whatever was done was done by me” and that “if he did it, he did it without knowing it.”

Laffitte’s attorneys used Murdaugh’s testimony to request a new trial, but U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel rejected that argument, saying that Murdaugh, now serving life sentences for the murders of his wife and son, “is manifestly not a credible witness.”

“Evidence offered during the Defendant’s trial established without question that Murdaugh is a serial liar and fraudster who stole from his clients and law partners,” Gergel wrote.

Murdaugh stands accused of dozens of counts of financial fraud, ripping both his family’s storied law firm and his clients off to the tune of millions — which he admitted in court during the murder trial. He has not yet stood trial for those charges.

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[Featured image: Gloria Satterfield/handout and Alex Murdaugh/Facebook]