Alex Murdaugh arrested again, charged with stealing money from housekeeper's settlement

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh was arrested again and charged with stealing money from a wrongful-death settlement that was owed to the family of his late housekeeper.

The State Law Enforcement Division said on the morning of Oct. 14 it had taken the suspended Hampton County lawyer into custody, picking him up from an Orlando, Fla., rehab facility where he was receiving treatment for a yearslong opioid addiction.

"Today is merely one more step in a long process for justice for the many victims in these investigations," SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a news release. "I want to commend the hard work and dedication that our agents have shown over the last four months. They will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of those who were victimized by Alex Murdaugh and others. As I have said previously, we are committed to following the facts wherever they may lead us and we will not stop until justice is served."

Murdaugh will face two felony counts of "obtaining property by false pretenses," according to SLED's news release. The charges carry up to 10 years in prison.

The arrest comes a month after attorneys for the family of Gloria Satterfield, Murdaugh's late housekeeper, filed a lawsuit alleging their clients had received nothing from a $4.3 million wrongful-death settlement that was negotiated in secret on behalf of Satterfield's sons.

Those attorneys, Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, further alleged earlier this month that Murdaugh, a lawyer friend and a banker had conspired to steer millions of dollars that were owed to the Satterfield family into a fraudulent bank account that Murdaugh had set up.

Their lawsuit alleged Murdaugh created a bank account and named it "Forge" to resemble Forge Consulting, an Atlanta-based financial firm that lawyers often hire to structure settlement payments for clients. Then Murdaugh had the Satterfields' attorney - Beaufort lawyer and longtime Murdaugh friend Cory Fleming - direct the family's settlement payments to that account, according to the complaint.

From there, the money disappeared, the filing alleged.

In a statement issued Oct. 14, Bland and Richter said the Satterfield family is "extremely grateful" to law enforcement for bringing criminal charges against Murdaugh in the case.

"Avarice and betrayal of trust are at the heart of this matter," Bland and Richter wrote. "Lawsuits and claims are not vehicles for lawyers, defendants and/or friends to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients."

Fleming has since settled with the Satterfield family, claiming he, too, was duped by Murdaugh and thought all the settlement money had gone to Satterfield's sons.

Jim Griffin, one of Murdaugh's defense attorneys, said his client has not had a chance to formally respond to the criminal charges or the civil lawsuit, since he has been undergoing addiction treatment out of state for more than a month.

Asked directly whether Murdaugh stole money meant for Satterfield's sons, Griffin paused before saying, "That would be for him to answer, not me."

He declined to share details of his conversations with Murdaugh about the allegations, citing attorney-client privilege.

In a formal statement, Griffin and his partner on the case, Dick Harpootlian, said Murdaugh would fully cooperate with the investigation, as he has with the investigation into the slayings of his wife and son.

"He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders," the statement read.

Murdaugh will be held at an Orange County, Fla., jail while awaiting an extradition hearing. Then, he is expected to travel to South Carolina for a bond hearing.

Murdaugh's second arrest came a month after his first. In September, he was charged with insurance fraud, among other crimes, in connection with an alleged staged shooting on the side of a rural Hampton County road.

His attorneys have said Murdaugh was depressed after the unsolved killings of his wife and son in June, as well as his ejection from his Hampton law office amid accusations he had stolen client and firm money.

But Murdaugh mistakenly believed his $10 million life insurance policy would not pay out to his remaining son, Buster, if he killed himself. So he enlisted his longtime drug dealer, Curtis Edward Smith, to shoot him in the head, Murdaugh's attorneys have said.

SLED arrested Murdaugh and Smith in connection with the shooting. Smith has since told several news outlets he didn't shoot Murdaugh and doesn't believe the lawyer was hit when a gun went off during their struggle for it.

Smith and his lawyer also have denied Smith was Murdaugh's drug dealer, saying he has been set up as Murdaugh's fall guy.

Griffin said he wasn't surprised that Murdaugh had been arrested in the Satterfield case, but he was shocked at the timing. Murdaugh had just finished his program at the Florida rehab facility and was set to enter another two- to four-week program at a less-intensive facility within the same health care organization, Griffin said.

Griffin said Murdaugh's legal team will request that he be allowed to continue that treatment, if released on bond.

The case will be prosecuted by the state Attorney General's Office.