PMPED, or Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, clarified in a statement on their website, “It’s important for everyone to know that PMPED did not represent Alex in that case,” referring to Gloria Satterfield's 2019 wrongful death settlement.
Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh is now being sued by his own family’s law firm PMPED, or Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth and Detrick, for siphoning millions of dollars into a personal bank account, according to the lawsuit.
This comes as housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s sons claim he also defrauded them of millions in wrongful death settlement money by mailing checks with the incorrect information, a new lawsuit alleged.
In PMPED’s lawsuit against Murdaugh, they claimed he “was able to covertly steal these funds by disguising disbursements from settlements as payments to an annuity company, trust account or structured settlement for clients or as structured attorney's fees that he had earned when in fact they were deposited into the fictitious account at Bank of America,” according to The Island Packet.
The complaint filed in Colleton County Court by the law firm Murdaugh’s great-grandfather founded continued to say that Murdaugh “used firm assets in an unauthorized manner and without the consent or knowledge of his other shareholders to further his scheme to defraud.”
One of Murdaugh’s current lawyers, Jim Griffin said Wednesday, “I know it is a very sad day for all the members of that firm and whom Alex holds in highest esteem,” according to Island Packet, which added that Griffin said he had not yet seen the lawsuit.
PMPED’s lawsuit comes just a day after court documents appeared containng new accusations against Murdaugh related to the wrongful death settlement of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died on his property. The law firm said in a statement on the front page of their website, “It’s important for everyone to know that PMPED did not represent Alex in that case,” referring to the 2019 wrongful death settlement.
The court documents filed Tuesday accuses Murdaugh of having diverted more than $3.5 million meant for Satterfield’s sons in a court-approved 2019 wrongful death settlement, the Slate reported. While her sons were supposed to receive at least $4.3 million in insurance payout money, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriot have received nothing so far, according to the Slate.
Attorney Eric Bland, who represents Satterfield’s sons, showed photocopies of checks as evidence that Murdaugh attempted to move the settlement money away from the heirs. The copies of the checks showed the correct amount of settlement money approved in court, but were made out to the incorrect recipient, and were allegedly mailed to a P.O. Box in Hampton, South Carolina, according to photos of the checks published by the Slate.
This week’s allegations are just the latest developments in various legal troubles surrounding the Murdaugh family following the double-homicide of his son Paul Murdaugh and wife, Maggie Murdaugh, this summer.
Last month, Murdaugh allegedly tried to stage his own death for a $10 million insurance payout and was under new scrutiny after the 2019 boat crash involving his son Paul that ended with the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
