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Friend of Alex Murdaugh sentenced over estate conspiracy scheme

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A former South Carolina lawyer has been sentenced to nearly four years behind bars after pleading guilty this spring to conspiring with convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh to steal millions from the estate of Murdaugh's deceased housekeeper.

Cory Fleming, 54, of Beaufort, S.C., was sentenced Tuesday to 46 months in federal prison, three years' supervised release and to pay $102,00 in restitution and a fine of $20,000.

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The sentence was handed down months after Fleming pleaded guilty late May to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison in March on charges of killing his 52-year-old wife, Margaret, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in June 2021.

Prosecutors said Fleming conspired with Murdaugh to steal money and property from the estate of Gloria Satterfield, who died in February 2018 after suffering a fall at the Murdaugh family's home.

According to court documents, after Satterfield's death, Murdaugh recommended that her estate hire his friend Fleming, a Beaufort personal injury and criminal defense lawyer, to file a claim against the Murdaugh family in order to collect from their house insurance.

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The insurance companies settled for more than $4.3 million, but prosecutors said Fleming took control of the account and worked to steal the money from the Satterfield family for himself and Murdaugh.

The court documents detail how Fleming directed settlement checks into his personal bank account while claiming they were expense payments connected to the case.

Fleming apologized to Satterfield family members in the court room on Tuesday a swell as members of his community and former South Carolina Bar Association colleagues, NBC News reported.

He told them that he had "taken a hard look in the mirror and did not like what" he saw.

Though already behind bars for the murder of his wife and adult child, Murdaugh still faces some 100 counts of financial fraud-related charges.

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