Alex Murdoff faces new charge of stealing money from dead housekeeper’s family

Convicted murderer Alex Murdo has been charged with several new charges of stealing money from the family of his deceased housekeeper.

The South Carolina attorney general’s office announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury has returned a 22-count indictment against the 54-year-old disgraced legal heir apparent, charging him with wire fraud and bank fraud. accused of conspiracy. , and money laundering.

Prosecutors allege that Murdo perpetrated a financial fraud scheme that involved stealing approximately $3.5m from the estate of Gloria Satterfield and her insurance carriers.

Satterfield was the longtime housekeeper of Murdo, who died in 2018 in a mysterious “trip and fall” accident at the Prominent family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate in South Carolina — the same property where Murdo lived three years later with his wife, Maggie, and adult children. Son Paul was shot dead.

After her death, Murdaugh claimed that he would file a wrongful death lawsuit against her on behalf of Satterfield’s sons.

In fact, Murdaugh allegedly stole the settlement money for himself and the homeowner’s sons didn’t get a dime.

It was part of a decades-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme where he stole millions from his law firm and legal clients – a scheme he confessed to orchestrating when he stood trial for his murder Was.

The convicted murderer was already awaiting trial on more than 100 financial crimes charges, including charges of stealing from Satterfield’s family.

But now he is facing more charges.

“Confidence in our legal system begins with trust in our own attorneys,” said US Attorney Adair Burrows in a press release announcing the charges.

“South Carolinians turn to lawyers when they are at their most vulnerable, and in our state, those who abuse the public trust and enrich themselves through fraud, theft and self-dealing, They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the stairs leading to the family home.

He never regained consciousness and died of his injuries three weeks later on 26 February.

At the time, Murdaugh claimed she had tripped over the family’s dogs and hit her head, and her death was thought to be an accidental fall.

However, her death certificate listed her manner of death as “natural” and no autopsy was ever performed.

Questions had swirled around Satterfield’s death for the past few years as a string of deaths, stolen money and corruption involving Murdoff came to light.

In September 2021, the investigation into her death was reopened and investigators said they planned to exhume her body.

This came just days after Murdaugh’s financial fraud scheme came to light and three months after the double murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul – who were shot dead at the same property where Satterfield had given them a fatal “collapse”. did.

This March, Murdo was found guilty of the June 7, 2021 murders and sentenced to life in prison.

At his high-profile trial, jurors heard how he was motivated to kill his family to divert attention from his financial crimes, which were at risk.

Satterfield’s death isn’t the only mysterious death linked to a South Carolina legal dynasty.

A homicide investigation has also been launched into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County.

The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But Smith’s family has long doubted this version of events, with Murdo’s name appearing in several police tips and community rumors.

At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the death in the Mallory Beach boating accident.