Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was busted Thursday in Florida for allegedly scamming millions of dollars from his late housekeeper’s family, officials told The Post.
The 53-year-old drug-addicted lawyer was arrested “upon his release from a drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando,” a spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) said.
He was taken into custody on two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses tied to the 2018 mysterious death of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, SLED said.
Murdaugh has been accused of collecting more than $4 million in insurance — but never giving it to her surviving sons as promised.
Thursday’s arrest came almost a month after he was busted for allegedly trying to get his drug dealer to kill him in a life insurance scam to collect $10 million for Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster.
He was released on $20,000 bail in that case, going to the Orlando rehab for treatment for a 20-year opioid addiction, his lawyer has said.
Murdaugh is being held at Orange County Corrections until an extradition hearing to bring him back to South Carolina, where his family has long been one of the most powerful legal presences.
SLED suggested more charges could come over the once-powerful lawyer who is also a person of interest in the unsolved double slaying of his wife and son in June, his lawyer admitted this week.
Officers are also investigating millions taken from his family’s law firm, as well as Satterfield’s death at his home, which was never reported to the coroner and was “inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident,” as reported at the time.
“Today is merely one more step in a long process for justice for the many victims in these investigations,”SLED Chief Mark Keel said.
Agents “will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of those who were victimized by Alex Murdaugh and others,” Keel said.
“We are committed to following the facts wherever they may lead us and we will not stop until justice is served.”
Satterfield’s sons — Brian Harriott and Tony Satterfield — have also sued Murdaugh over the cash, saying he promised them at their mother’s funeral “he was going to take care” of them.
He instead got more than $4 million from his insurers, but only told them about $500,000 — and then never sent them a dime, the lawsuit said.
Their attorneys said Thursday that the Satterfield family is “extremely grateful” that criminal charges have been brought.
“Avarice and betrayal of trust are at the heart of this matter,” lawyers Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter said in a statement.
“Lawsuits and claims are not vehicles for lawyers, defendants and/or friends to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients.”
Murdaugh’s lawyers said in a statement that he “intends to fully cooperate with this investigation, as he has with the investigation into the murder of his wife and son.”
“He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders,” the statement continued of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, who Murdaugh found shot dead in June.
His attorney, Jim Griffin, told FOX Carolina News this week that SLED “has said from the get-go that Alex was a person of interest” in the slayings.
“SLED identified Alec as a person of interest. They’ve never eliminated him as a person of interest,” admitted Griffin.
He also said that his friend had secretly been an opioid addict for at least 20 years, with previous attempts to kick it in rehab.
“I know that it has been a struggle of his,” he said, saying the disgraced legal scion lied about being on golfing trips to hide his stints in rehab.
“He did not come clean with those that he worked with, that he was actually going through detox,” Griffin admitted.
The attorney even conceded that the addiction could be a “door” into the mushrooming crimes being linked to Murdaugh.
With Post wires
