FBI investigates Alex Murdaugh, missing $3.4M meant for nanny’s heirs, SC lawyers say
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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Federal authorities are investigating Alex Murdaugh’s financial dealings, including allegations he took $3.4 million meant for the estate of his deceased housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, according to lawyers who have talked with federal law enforcement officials.
Eric Bland, who is representing Satterfield’s two sons, said the FBI is looking into the financial allegations against Murdaugh in the Satterfield case. Bland said he’s met with federal investigators a couple of times to share what he knows.
And Jim Griffin, one of two lawyers representing Murdaugh, said Wednesday that he was contacted in mid-October “by some prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office” about their interest in Murdaugh’s financial dealings.
But right before he was scheduled to have an in-depth conversation with the federal prosecutors, Griffin said, he was informed that Murdaugh had been taken into custody by S.C. Law Enforcement Division agents at a drug rehabilitation center in Florida on state charges of misappropriation of funds in the Satterfield estate. The in-depth discussion did not take place, Griffin said.
The initial call left Griffin with the impression that federal authorities “were handling the financial end of the investigation.”
Federal authorities “were surprised to learn” that SLED agents had arrested Murdaugh on the Satterfield theft charges, Griffin said. “It was obvious to me there was a lack of coordination between the federal and the state authorities, and I have not had any further conversation with the federal authorities since.”
Bland said, “My clients wanted us to share what we have garnered with the government agencies. ... Quite frankly, our evidence helped bring charges against Alex on the state level.”
A lawsuit filed by Bland in September laid out the alleged scheme of how Murdaugh orchestrated a death settlement for Satterfield’s sons and then had a lawyer friend write checks to Murdaugh’s sham bank account from the millions in settlement money. This month, Murdaugh was charged by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, using information revealed from the lawsuit.
Acting U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Rhett DeHart declined to comment, saying he could neither confirm nor deny an investigation.
The State newspaper reported last month that SLED was receiving limited investigative help from federal authorities, but the lawyers’ comments indicate that federal law enforcement and prosecutors may be pursuing separate lines of investigation.
Several weeks ago, SLED Chief Mark Keel told this newspaper in a written statement that “From very early on in this investigation, SLED has utilized federal resources as needed. “We will continue to call upon our federal partners, as their assistance is needed, to successfully investigate and prosecute specific aspects of these cases.”
Kevin Wheeler, a public affairs official with the FBI Columbia office, said that as a rule, he could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
SLED spokesperson Tommy Crosby said questions should be directed to the FBI. He did not answer a question via text as to whether the federal investigation would supersede or coincide with SLED’s.
The Murdaugh saga has morphed from a grisly double homicide that captured national interest in June, to a puzzling alleged botched suicide attempt by Alex Murdaugh in September, to his second arrest in October on allegations he stole from the Satterfield’s sons.
According to Bland, federal investigators will be interested in the whereabouts of the money Murdaugh allegedly swindled.
Warrants charge that Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming wrote settlement checks to “Forge,” a fake account controlled by Alex Murdaugh. They were mailed to a P.O. box in Hampton and deposited into Murdaugh’s Bank of America account.
From there, according to Creighton Waters with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, Murdaugh paid off a $100,000 credit card bill, wrote a $300,000 check for his father, and wrote two checks totaling $735,000 to himself. Waters told this to a state judge at Murdaugh’s bond hearing on Oct. 19.
As part of his civil case, Bland also said he received documents related to whether Bank of America followed banking regulations when Alex Murdaugh opened his account.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 6:41 PM with the headline "FBI investigates Alex Murdaugh, missing $3.4M meant for nanny’s heirs, SC lawyers say."
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