COLUMBIA, S.C. — Their names are not well-known like the man accused of stealing from them, Alex Murdaugh, who raked in millions of dollars in income and then pilfered millions more, prosecutors say.
The victims were his household workers and a highway patrolman injured on the job. One was described as a childhood friend, another a quadriplegic.
One woman whose name has become well known, Gloria Sattlerfield, was the housekeeper who helped raise Murdaugh’s children.
They were injured, some died, in accidents, and they or their family members received settlements.
Murdaugh’s alleged crimes took place across Lowcountry South Carolina in the counties surrounding the genteel estates where generations of Murdaughs lived and worked as lawyers and prosecutors.
Now disbarred, Murdaugh was found guilty Thursday of shooting his wife Maggie, with an AR style rifle, and son, Paul, with a shotgun that blew his brain out. They were gunned down at the family’s 1,700-acre hunting estate in Islandton on June 7, 2021. He will be sentenced Friday.
The financial crimes charges played a central role in the murder trial. The prosecution says Murdaugh’s motive for killing his wife and son was to distract attention from those charges.
When he took the stand in his own defense last week, Murdaugh admitted stealing millions. He said he loved the people he stole from. He blamed, in part, an addiction to oxycontin.
The financial crimes date back almost a decade. First he used Palmetto State Bank and then a business he created called Forge, which was little more than a bank account in Murdaugh’s name. There is a legitimate company called Forge Consulting, which is based in Atlanta and used by Murdaugh’s former law firm to handle settlements.
The SC Attorney General’s Office says the “fake Forge” was used to launder the money Murdaugh is accused of stealing. Among the charges are variously breach of trust, money laundering, computer crimes and forgery.
In 2011, a collision injured multiple members of the Pinckney family. Hakeem Pinckney was paralyzed and died two years later at 21. Murdaugh took a $309,581.46 settlement made out to Palmetto State Bank and used the money for money orders payable to a family member and “to other client conservatorship accounts from which Murdaagh previously borrowed money, in part to pay down a personal business loan, and in part to obtain cash for himself and a different family member,” the indictment says.
Pinckney’s cousin Natarsha Thomas was also injured in the car accident. A $325,000 settlement to her was made out to Palmetto State Bank and converted to cash for Murdaugh’s benefit, the indictment says.
Murdaugh is accused of taking $338,456 from Deon Martin, of Allendale County, after settling a 2013 personal injury lawsuit. Murdaugh deposited the money in his Forge account. Court records online do not explain the circumstances of the injury.
Murdaugh is accused of using the money for “credit card bills, cash, and checks written to himself and associates,” the grand jury indictment said. There was an additional $45,000 deposit from the settlement in 2016, the indictment said.
In 2013, the indictment says, Murdaugh took $388,687 from Arthur Badger, whose wife died in a collision with a UPS truck.
Badger’s money went to pay a credit card account, an auto dealership and his family members, according to the indictments.
In 2016, Manuel Santis-Cristiani, described as a worker at Murdaugh’s house and a Mexican citizen, received a $70,000 settlement in a personal injury case handled by Murdaugh. It was intended to pay his medical bills at the Medical University of South Carolina but ended up in the “fake Forge” account.
Also in 2016, Johnny Bush lost $95,000 and Jamian Risher $90,000, through the fake Forge account.
In 2017, slightly less than $10,000 intended for Randy Drawdy ended up in the Forge account.
The next year, Satterfield fell down the brick front steps at Moselle, the Murdaugh hunting estate, and died after never regaining consciousness. Murdaugh told her sons he would take care of them and arrange for a lawsuit to be filed against his insurance.
When the first settlement was received in 2019 for $403,000, Murdaugh put the money in the Forge account and did not tell the sons, the indictment says. Another settlement of slightly less than $3 million was deposited in the Forge account as well and used for “utility payments, loan payments, a six figure credit card payment, cash, and checks written to himself and associates, including six-figure checks written to his father and a law partner,” the indictment says. Another settlement for $118,000 was used by Murdaugh, the indictment says,
In 2018, long-time family friend Jordan Jinks lost $85,000 intended for medical insurance liens after his car was rear-ended, injuring his spine and knee, the Island Packet reported..
“I grew to be loyal to him. He was loyal to me, I thought. Over the years, I never saw this type of personality in Alex,” Jinks told NewsNation
Attorney Eric Bland told the network, “They grew up together, played ball together. He actually broke Alex’s arm when he was 8 years old.”
In 2019, a wrongful death settlement intended for the estate of Blondell Gary for $112,000 was deposited in the Forge account. A Yemassee resident and evangelist, she died in a car accident in 2012.
Her obituary says, “She was a dedicated servant and was always willing to help anyone within her means. She was always the one to make lots of jokes and kept the family laughing no matter what trials they faced.”
In 2020, Murdaugh took $750,000 from Christopher Anderson, an indictment alleges. He had been injured on the job.
That same year, as personal representative of the estate of Sandra Taylor, Murdaugh told her mother the settlement would be $30,000 and he wouldn’t take a fee because the recovery was so low.
The settlement was actually $180,000, the indictment said, and it ended up in Murdaugh’s Forge account.
Taylor was 35, and died after the car she was in crashed in Colleton County, according to court records. The car’s driver, Deontre Cohen, was arrested and charged with driving drunk, according to Walterboro’s The Press and Standard.
In 2021, Thomas Moore, a highway patrolman injured when a car hit his patrol car, received a $125,000 insurance payment for medical bills. Murdaugh is accused of putting the check into his Forge account. The indictment says Murdaugh told Moore the money had to be held until the litigation was finished. Murdaugh is accused of using it for overdraft fees, cash and checks written to associates.
The Murdaugh law firm has repaid Moore and many of the others.
Murdugh also faces charges of tax evasion for not reporting more than $600,000 in income derived from illegal activity in 2011. His adjusted gross income that year was $2.3 million for his work at the law firm.
He is charged with taking checks intended for his brother, Randy.
On Sept. 4, 2021, Murdaugh called 911 to say he had been shot in the head after his Mercedes had a flat tire and someone in a pickup truck opened fire.
Ten days later, SLED said Murdaugh arranged for a man to kill him so his older son, Buster, could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.
Curtis Edward Smith, a longtime associate and distant relative of Murduagh, was arrested on charges of assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
Then on Sept. 16, 2021, Murdaugh was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report. Murdaugh was released on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond hours after turning himself in to police.
Ultimately, Murdaugh was held on a $7 million bond.
Last June, Murdaugh and Smith were indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy and narcotics offenses. They are accused of conspiring to purchase and distribute oxycodone in Colleton County from Oct. 7, 2013, to Sept. 7, 2021. Murdaugh wrote Smith 437 checks from 2013 to 2021 worth a total of $2.4 million, and then Smith used the proceeds to help Murdaugh conceal “a myriad of unlawful activities,” according to the conspiracy indictment.
The state Grand Jury has brought more than 100 charges against Murdaugh.
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