Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh, has made a bombshell confession with regard to a life insurance fraud lawsuit filed against him in connection with the death of his longtime housekeeper.
In a May 1 response to Nautilus Insurance Company's filing, Murdaugh's lawyers stated that their client lied when he said Gloria Satterfield, 57, had tripped over his family's dogs when she fell on his property in 2018, NBC News reported.
"No dogs were involved in the fall of Gloria Satterfield on February 2, 2018," the attorneys said in the legal filing, adding that after Satterfield's death, Murdaugh "invented Ms. Satterfield's purported statement that dogs caused her to fall to force his insurers to make a settlement payment."
However, according to his May 1 response, Murdaugh "denies the existence of any conspiracy to improperly cause Nautilus to pay a fraudulent claim."
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The insurance company filed its civil suit against Murdaugh in 2022, alleging that that after Satterfield's death, he made a claim on his $5 million umbrella policy and helped coordinate efforts to "improperly obtain" the insurance money.
In October 2021, Murdaugh was arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for the Satterfield family. "Mr. Murdaugh coordinated with (Gloria) Satterfield's family to sue himself in order to seek an insurance settlement with the stated intent to give the proceeds to the Satterfield family to pay for funeral expenses and monetary compensation for Satterfield's children," CNN quoted a South Carolina Enforcement Division affidavit as saying.
In a wrongful death lawsuit filed a month prior, Satterfield's adult sons, Michael "Tony" Satterfield and Brian Harriott, alleged that they had received none of the proceeds from a $4.3 million settlement they said Murdaugh arranged in secret, NBC News reported.
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This past February, at a hearing for his double murder trial in the deaths of his wife and son, Satterfield's son Michael told the court that Murdaugh offered to "go after my insurance company" to help their family with medical bills and other expenses, but that they ultimately never got the money and Murdaugh never mentioned his $5 million umbrella policy.
"Neither myself, my law firm, or my clients have ever possessed even $1 of the stolen Nautilus money," Ronnie Richter, one of the Satterfield family attorneys, tweeted May 2, a day after Murdaugh's latest filing.
In March, Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for fatally shooting his wife and son in what prosecutors said was a bid to distract from financial misdeeds. His attorneys have filed a notice to appeal the murder case.
(E! and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
