Current:Home > NewsAlex Murdaugh friend pleads guilty to helping steal from dead maid’s family -Streamline Finance
Alex Murdaugh friend pleads guilty to helping steal from dead maid’s family
View
Date:2025-04-16 14:17:28
KINGSTREE, S.C. (AP) — Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh ‘s old college buddy has pleaded guilty to a second set of charges for helping the disgraced South Carolina attorney steal millions of dollars of insurance settlements from the sons of Murdaugh’s dead housekeeper.
Cory Fleming, a 54-year-old former attorney, wasn’t immediately sentenced after his guilty plea to 23 state charges Wednesday.
Prosecutors indicated they would ask at a September hearing that Fleming spend more time in prison than the nearly four-year sentence he received for similar federal charges earlier this month, according to media reports.
During his federal sentencing, Fleming said he knew Murdaugh, now serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, was going to steal something from the family of his housekeeper. She worked for Murdaugh’s family for decades before dying after a fall at their home in 2018.
But Fleming said he thought it might be $100,000 — not the entire $4 million-plus award.
Unless Fleming was “the dumbest man alive,” he knew what all Murdaugh was going to do, prosecutor Creighton Waters told the judge Wednesday.
When U.S. Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Fleming to 46 months in prison on the federal charges, he told Fleming he would let the state judge know he didn’t think the state charges should carry any more prison time.
However, South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman, who sentenced Murdaugh to life after a monthlong trial, doesn’t have to follow that recommendation at Fleming’s Sept. 14 state sentencing.
Fleming has surrendered his license to practice law in both Georgia and South Carolina, saying he dishonored the profession. He’s the second Murdaugh associate ordered to prison since investigators began scrutinizing every aspect of Murdaugh’s life in June 2021 after his wife and son were shot to death at their South Carolina home.
Banker Russell Laffitte was sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to helping Murdaugh steal money from settlements for clients after vehicle wrecks or work injuries. Laffitte is appealing his conviction and sentence.
While Fleming knew Murdaugh was asking him to do wrong, he said he didn’t realize the depth of his old friend’s depravity.
Murdaugh still faces more than 100 charges in state and federal courts. Prosecutors say the crimes range from tax evasion and stealing from clients and his family’s law firm to running a drug and money laundering ring — even unsuccessfully arranging for someone to kill him so his surviving son could get life insurance money.
Newman plans a hearing on the status of those cases the same day Fleming is sentenced.
In Fleming’s case, the victims were Gloria Satterfield and her two sons. Satterfield cleaned the Murdaugh’s house, babysat their sons and did anything else the family asked for more than 20 years.
Murdaugh promised the sons, who were young adults, he would take care of them and recommended they hire Fleming as their lawyer. He didn’t tell them Fleming was a longtime friend, college roommate and godfather to one of his sons.
Murdaugh told insurance companies that Satterfield tripped over their dogs and convinced them to pay more than $4 million to what they thought was Satterfield’s estate through Fleming. But instead, Murdaugh had Fleming send the checks to him. The sons didn’t see a dime until Murdaugh’s finances began to unravel and they hired a different attorney.
The state charges included a second fraud victim. Prosecutors said Fleming helped Murdaugh steal settlement money from a woman badly hurt in a car crash and used his part of the ill-gotten gains to charter a plane to go to the College World Series.
veryGood! (697)
Related
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- It’s (almost) Met Gala time. Here’s how to watch fashion’s big night and what to know
- Shop $8 Gymshark Leggings, $10 BaubleBar Bracelets, $89 Platform Beds & 99 More Deals
- As China and Iran hunt for dissidents in the US, the FBI is racing to counter the threat
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- With help from AI, Randy Travis got his voice back. Here’s how his first song post-stroke came to be
- Tanzania hit by power blackouts as Cyclone Hidaya strengthens toward country's coastline
- This Holocaust Remembrance Day, survivors have a message: Don't let history 'repeat itself'
- How breaking emerged from battles in the burning Bronx to the Paris Olympics stage
- Georgia’s attorney general says Savannah overstepped in outlawing guns in unlocked cars
Ranking
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Shop Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gifts From Kiehl’s and Score 25% off Mom & Celeb-Loved Skincare Products
- Want to show teachers appreciation? This top school gives them more freedom
- Ukrainian Olympic weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko dies in war with Russia
- Olympic women's basketball bracket: Schedule, results, Team USA's path to gold
- Here's what happens inside the Met Gala after the red carpet
- Turkey halts all trade with Israel as war with Hamas in Gaza claims more civilian lives
- Celebrating excellence in journalism and the arts, Pulitzer Prizes to be awarded Monday
Recommendation
'Meet me at the gate': Watch as widow scatters husband's ashes, BASE jumps into canyon
Gen V Reveals Plan for Chance Perdomo’s Character After His Sudden Death
NCAA lacrosse tournament bracket, schedule, preview: Notre Dame leads favorites
Gen V Reveals Plan for Chance Perdomo’s Character After His Sudden Death
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
Queen Rania of Jordan says U.S. is seen as enabler of Israel
Why Ryan Gosling Avoids Darker Roles for the Sake of His Family
This Holocaust Remembrance Day, survivors have a message: Don't let history 'repeat itself'