Alex Murdaugh's attorney admits disgraced lawyer knows he's going to jail
Criminal defense attorney Brian Claypool reacts to the latest development in the Murdaugh family murder mystery saga
EXCLUSIVE: Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh – already accused of defrauding the family of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield out of millions – is about to be slapped with eight more lawsuits from ex-clients alleging he took advantage of their grave personal injuries to rob them.
Among those allegedly targeted for a financial gain of between tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars is the family of a deaf young man who Murdaugh represented following a 2011 car accident that rendered him a quadriplegic. Indictments show that Murdaugh is also accused of stealing from a former highway patrolman who Murdaugh represented after he was injured in the line of duty.
Justin Bamberg, an attorney and Democratic state representative, told Fox News Digital he is working on civil complaints to be filed in Hampton County, South Carolina, on behalf of at least eight people who were allegedly defrauded out of anywhere between $90,000 to $750,000. Those filings will include allegations brought by the family of a man who attended the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.
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"It is really infuriating, to be honest. There's no real way to downplay it," Bamberg told Fox News Digital, claiming many other victims are out there. "People don't know the depth of this thing."
The young man, who was already deaf, was rendered a quadriplegic in a 2011 car accident and was placed on a ventilator. His mother was driving and was permanently injured, as was another passenger.
"You're talking about someone who even before the wreck was dealing with some very difficult stuff in life and managed to figure out how to make it," Bamberg said Wednesday. "What they did is basically Satterfield, but eight years earlier, because this is in 2011."
As Murdaugh is accused of doing similarly in the Satterfield case, he allegedly convinced the young man’s mother that she needed someone to represent her son’s finances. In the housekeeper’s case, Murdaugh introduced Satterfield’s sons to his longtime friend and attorney Cory Fleming, who brought in Vice President of Palmetto State Bank, Chad Westendorf, as the representative of Satterfield’s estate.
Bamberg said Murdaugh did the same for the man left a quadriplegic years before – he introduced the man’s mother to Fleming, who instead brought in the bank’s president, Russell Laffitte, as the conservator. The man later died at a care facility, and Laffitte became personal representative of his estate.
When it came time for the man’s relatives to be paid, they were entitled to $309,000, Bamberg said.
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But Murdaugh allegedly cut a check in 2012 made payable to Palmetto State Bank, and the man’s family never saw any of the funds. The other passenger in the wreck, a woman, was defrauded out of another $375,000, according to the attorney. For the man’s mother, she was entitled to $89,000, and Fleming cut a check to Murdaugh’s law firm, PMPED. But the money again vanished, Bamberg said.
"Look at who these victims are. Who steals from a deaf kid?" Bamberg said. "Let alone the fact that he's now a quadriplegic and is on a ventilator. That’s the type of person that they did this stuff to."
Alex Murdaugh appeared in a new mug shot following his arrest in Orlando, Florida on charges in connection to housekeeper Gloria Satterfield insurance settlements (Orange County Corrections)
"Whether it's somebody else who isn't in that same physical condition, how much money does somebody need to make?" Bamberg continued. "Since when is doing your job and getting paid for the work that you put in, not enough to the point you've got to steal from people who they didn't have over a hundred years of family wealth and power like the Murdaugh family?"
Bamberg said he did not want to name the man rendered a quadriplegic or his mother at this time as criminal investigations continue. He said he has yet to file the civil complaint in Hampton County.
From another one of Bamberg’s clients, Murdaugh allegedly stole $750,000. Blamberg said the client did not find out until two years later from law enforcement about the sum he was owed. Bamberg told Fox News Digital he could not specify which of his clients are already named in criminal indictments.
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Murdaugh is facing more than 50 charges and is currently held on a $7 million bond. The indictments stem from embezzled funds as well as an alleged Labor Day weekend plot to kill himself so his surviving son Buster Murdaugh could collect a hefty life insurance policy.
His wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their other son, Paul Murdaugh, were both shot and killed in June on the family’s hunting estate in Colleton County – though no suspect has been formally named by authorities and Alex denies he was involved.
The indictments name Satterfield and others – some described as "longtime friends" of the Murdaugh family, others who Alex Murdaugh represented in personal injury lawsuits or other matters.
For all of them, prosecutors said Murdaugh violated their trust and defrauded them out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars using a fraudulent bank account named Forge.
Names in the indictments include Jordan Jinks, a longtime friend of the Murdaugh family who was allegedly defrauded out of $85,000 from medical insurance liens.
Another individual was Thomas L. Moore, who was described in court documents "as a highway patrolman who had been injured in the line of duty and had come to Murdaugh for help." He was allegedly defrauded out of $125,000. There’s also Deon J. Martin who was defrauded out of $338,000 entitled to him after a personal injury lawsuit. Prosecutors say Manuel Santis-Cristiani was defrauded out of $70,000 and Jamian Risher was defrauded out of $90,000 in separate person injury suits.
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Johnny Bush was defrauded out of $100,000 from an "accidental reconstruction" suit, and there’s also a representative of the estate of Blondell Gary who was defrauded out of $112,500 following a wrongful death settlement. Second to Satterfield’s case, which alleges about $3.4 million in misappropriated funds, a man named Christopher Anderson was defrauded out of $750,000.
