The longtime friend and former college roommate of Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty to helping the convicted killer steal more than $4 million in a wrongful death settlement meant for the estate of his late housekeeper who fell and died at Murdaugh’s home.
Cory Fleming, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court Thursday a day after Murdaugh was indicted on 22 financial fraud-related charges related to the insurance scheme following the 2018 death of the Murdaughs’ 57-year-old housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.
Murdaugh convinced Satterfield’s sons to sue him over her death in order to get wrongful death settlement money from the house insurance he had purchased just months before she tripped and died at the family’s South Carolina home.
Murdaugh then recruited Fleming, a personal injury attorney, to represent the Satterfield boys in the lawsuit and he won the family $4.3 million from the insurance company, according to an indictment.
But the grieving sons never saw any of the money.
The pair of lawyers instead pocketed all the money — split between the two of them — and lied that they hadn’t reached a settlement with insurers yet.
Satterfield’s sons later hired new attorneys and were awarded more than $7.5 million over the stolen settlement payments.
The brothers are still seeking the truth about their mother’s fatal fall as Murdaugh revealed he had lied about key details surrounding her death — including that his family’s dogs caused her to trip and fall — in court filings earlier this month. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating Satterfield’s death.
Nautilus Insurance sued Murdaugh and Fleming in May 2022 over the scheme, claiming the men lied about Satterfield’s death to prove liability and get a payout.
Fleming faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the crime.
Murdaugh’s lawyers, meanwhile, said they expect the charges against their client to be “quickly resolved without a trial” — indicating that he may plead guilty.
Murdaugh, 54, is already serving a life sentence behind bars after he was convicted in March for the murders of his 52-year-old wife Maggie and 22-year-old son Paul who he shot to death at their home on June 7, 2021.
He is also awaiting trial on roughly 100 other state charges for financial crimes like insurance fraud, tax evasion and theft.
With Post wires.