Court filing: Alex Murdaugh admits he owes housekeeper’s sons $4.3M

HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - In a confession of judgment filed on Tuesday, Alex Murdaugh admits he owes the sons of his late housekeeper Gloria Satterfield more than $4.3 million.

The longtime housekeeper for the Murdaughs died after a fall at their home in 2018.

Satterfield’s sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott later filed a wrongful death lawsuit and have accused Murdaugh of working together with friend and attorney Cory Fleming to steal millions in a settlement they were awarded.

Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott said they found out a settlement was reached in their mother’s death from reading a newspaper article, but they were never told by Fleming.

Since Murdaugh’s assets are being managed by a receiver while he faces multiple lawsuits and investigations, recovery and distribution of the money will be at the receiver’s discretion.

Attorneys for Gloria Satterfield’s sons released the following statement on Tuesday’s filing:

“This Judgment is both meaningful and symbolic for the sons to have obtained from Alex Murdaugh for a number of reasons. As we all recall, after the lawsuit was filed by Gloria’s estate, Mr. Murdaugh denied liability for the $4,305,000.00 that was stolen from the Estate of Gloria Satterfield after Gloria fell to her death on February 2, 2018, on the stairs of the Moselle property. Thereafter, Mr. Murdaugh had the audacity to advance the preposterous notion that he owed no money to the Estate because the Estate collected in excess of $7,500,000 from others including Corey Fleming, his law firm Moss, Kuhn and Fleming, PMPED, Palmetto State Bank, from claims asserted against them. By this Judgment, Mr. Murdaugh admits that the allegations contained in the complaint against him are true and admits that he stole the $4,305,000.00 of settlement funds that belonged to Gloria’s estate. This sad saga on so many levels is nearing the end for Gloria’s family. They now will wait until the outcome of the receiver’s efforts in collecting monies and property from Alex and others and will await the distribution to all of the judgment creditors and victims. The Satterfields and Harriotts were committed to seeing this through the end and holding Alex and all other participants accountable, which they have courageously done. They are now content to let the justice system run its course as intended, and for Alex, Corey Fleming and Russ Laffitte to answer for their alleged misdeeds and theft as detailed in the multitude of criminal charges against them.

In a few weeks, Gloria’s family and their counsel will have a press conference to make an announcement in connection with a foundation that is being formed in Gloria’s honor which will be funded by some of the settlement proceeds and which will benefit underprivileged Hampton County families; good God-fearing, law-abiding and hard-working people like Gloria who struggle to make ends meet will be the beneficiaries of this foundation. The foundation’s name will say it all and it is intended that this foundation will be long lasting and be sustained through the funding of others. At that press conference, the family looks forward to thanking all of those who supported and encouraged their bravery in pursuing Alex and others, which they did with a vengeance and with dignity. As we have said all along, Gloria did not die in vain. Her death now had a purpose. It was a part in taking down Alex and others and some of the funds recovered will be used to benefit others.”

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