A South Carolina federal judge has ordered disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh and his accomplice to pay millions to an insurance company after they conspired to steal about $4 million in insurance funds from his housekeeper’s family following her death.

The judge ordered Murdaugh to pay $14.8 million and Murdaugh’s longtime friend and fellow attorney, Cory Fleming, to pay nearly $3.8 million in the federal civil case against Fleming.

Fleming stood trial for two days in Charleston before U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel handed down the settlement order.

“Fleming’s unfair and deceptive acts played a critical role in Murdaugh’s ability to ultimately steal over $4 million in settlement funds,” Gergel wrote in part in the settlement order filed on Jan. 9.

The $4 million Murdaugh stole from the Satterfield family is part of the 100 financial crimes charges filed against Murdaugh involving millions in stolen funds from his former law firm clients.

A photo of the Murdaugh family taken days before Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were shot to death. From left, Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh. (Defense exhibit)

Murdaugh had previously been ordered to serve 40 years for his financial crimes in federal court and 27 years for his financial crimes in state court.

Those sentences came on top of his life sentence for killing his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in 2021. 

A Colleton County jury found the disgraced lawyer guilty of shooting Maggie and Paul near dog kennels on the family’s hunting estate in June of that year. Prosecutors say he was trying to create a distraction from his mounting financial crimes, which were beginning to come to light around that time.