OMG! Alex Murdaugh just admitted guilt amid another legal battle!
As Perezcious readers know, the disgraced South Carolina lawyer was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his son, Paul Murdaugh, 22. But this wasn’t the only crime that he was accused of at the time.
Along with dozens of financial crimes, he was also accused of stealing millions owed to the children of his former housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died on his property in a mysterious trip-and-fall accident in 2018. Back in February of that year, he claimed she tripped over the family’s dogs, which caused her fall. Now, he’s admitting this was all a lie!
In new court documents obtained by People on Wednesday and filed in federal court on Monday, the prisoner revealed he “invented” the story about Gloria’s death in order to receive an insurance payout. His attorneys declared:
“No dogs were involved in the fall of Gloria Satterfield on February 2, 2018. After Ms. Satterfield’s death, Defendant invented Ms. Satterfield’s purported statement that dogs caused her fall to force his insurers to make a settlement payment, and he stated that she was not on the property to perform work.”
Whoa…
While it seems like a good thing that Alex is admitting he lied, there’s actually a plot twist! The only reason he is doing this is to throw other people under the bus with him! Let’s back up for a second. The money Alex allegedly lied to get was supposed to be handed over to Gloria’s sons, Michael “Tony” Satterfield and Brian Harriot. In October 2021, they filed a civil lawsuit alleging they never received money from a $4.3 million settlement they claimed was orchestrated in secret by Murdaugh. This came just one month after the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced it was opening an investigation into the 57-year-old’s death in September 2021 — months after Alex was arrested for the killings of his wife and son in June 2021. It was all looking so shady on his part — and for good reason!
By 2022, the Nautilus Insurance Company filed a complaint alleging the Southerner lied about the circumstances of Satterfield’s death in order to receive a fraudulent insurance settlement, and this is the very case Alex’s latest filing is now responding to. He’s totally admitting his guilt. But that’s not all…
With all that in mind, elsewhere in Murdaugh’s latest court documents, his lawyers argue “he acted to assist the Satterfield estate succeed in a claim on those facts,” AKA the lies, which the estate believed were true. Speaking to NBC News, one of Alex’s lawyers, Jim Griffin, argued the Satterfields and their lawyers should be added to the Nautilus lawsuit “because they have ultimately recovered the fraudulent insurance proceeds.” Damn!!
Eric Bland, an attorney for the sons, clapped back on social media, saying Alex was found to be “not credible” during the murder trial and argued his clients weren’t in the wrong:
“These insurers had investigators investigate the claim thoroughly before they paid on the claim. Additionally they also had lawyers who did their jobs and investigated the claim before it was paid. This is nothing but noise. Just gutless people trying to continue to victimize Gloria’s siblings and children.”
He added:
“Additionally, we recovered money for our clients from parties other than Nautilus for breaches of their duties to our clients and other claims. Technically the money that Nautilus paid never came to our clients. It was stolen by Alex so there is an argument that they still owe it to our clients by releases signed by the parties. These insurers had investigators investigate the claim thoroughly before they paid on the claim. Insurers are not in the business of paying out millions of dollars frivolous or fraudulent claims. Additionally they also had lawyers who did their jobs and investigated the claim before it was paid. This is nothing but noise. Just gutless people trying to continue to victimize Gloria’s siblings and children.”
It does not appear like Alex provided an accurate story of what did happen on that tragic day and it’s unclear what all this means for the case moving forward. As for Alex, his legal troubles are far from over. He still has a trial for his financial crimes to be held at a later date. Thoughts? Can you believe he finally admitted to lying (again…)?!
Related Posts
Source: Read Full Article