Murdaugh friend charged with aiding insurance fraud scheme

By MICHELLE LIU
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A longtime friend of once-prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh now faces 18 charges in an alleged scheme to help Murdaugh steal more than $3 million from the family of Murdaugh’s dead housekeeper. An indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Cory Fleming of defrauding the sons of Gloria Satterfield, who died following a fall at the Murdaugh home in 2018. Prosecutors say Murdaugh convinced her sons to hire Fleming to sue him for the insurance money, which Fleming and Murdaugh then pocketed for themselves. Murdaugh is jailed on 75 charges accusing him of stealing nearly $8.5 million from clients and others.