Alex Murdaugh Will Pay $4.3 Million To Housekeeper's Family, Offers Apology

Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has apologized for misappropriating funds belonging to the family of his longtime housekeeper and he has agreed to pay them a $4.3 million settlement.

During a bond hearing on Monday, Murdaugh, 53, agreed to pay the amount to the family of Gloria Satterfield, who died after suffering a fall at the Murdaugh home in 2018, CNN reports. Through his attorney, Murdaugh also issued an apology to her sons and their families. In it, he stated that he was sorry "for his financial transgressions committed in connection with the wrongful death settlement funds recovered in connection with the death of Gloria Satterfield and the pain it has caused,” according to CNN.

The Murdaugh family had claimed that Satterfield hit her head after tripping over the Murdaugh family’s dogs, The New York Times reported. She was hospitalized for several weeks but eventually died after suffering a stroke and going into cardiac arrest.

Following her death, Murdaugh encouraged Satterfield’s sons, Brian Harriott and Michael “Tony” Satterfield, to bring a wrongful death suit against him and encouraged the brothers to contact his friend, attorney Cory Fleming. Fleming then reached a $4.3 million settlement with Murdaugh and his insurers but the brothers say they never received any of the money nor were they even notified of the settlement.

Murdaugh was arrested in October and jailed for misappropriating funds meant for the Satterfield family.

The lawyers representing the Satterfield sons and their families did not immediately respond to Oxygen.com’s request for comment.

A $7 million bond was assigned Monday for Murdaugh and if he can pay it he will be placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring.

This is far from the only scandal that Murdaugh is linked to.

The Murdaugh family first began to receive national attention after the June double homicide of Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie, 52, and his son Paul, 22. Paul was facing charges for a high profile and, while investigators have not named any suspects in the slayings,o ne of Alex’s attorneys, Jim Griffin, has stated that Murdaugh is considered a person of interest in the case. 

Then in September 2021, Alex Murdaugh allegedly orchestrated a hit on himself in a failed suicide attempt, to which he has since confessed and for which he also faces charges.

“I made a terrible decision that I regret and frankly I’m embarrassed about,” he said during Monday’s bond hearing, according to the Daily Beast. During the hearing, he blamed some of his legal woes on two decades of opiate misuse.

For more on the Murdaugh saga, watch Oxygen’s “Alex Murdaugh: Death. Deception. Power.” You can watch "Alex Mudaugh. Death. Deception. Power." here or on Peacock starting January 6.