Murdaugh Murders Podcast - ‘A Good Day For Justice’ - What Happened To Gloria Satterfield? Part Three (S1E13)

Episode Date: October 17, 2021

On Thursday, October 14, Alex Murdaugh was arrested on two felony charges related to the Gloria Satterfield Case. In episode 13 of The Murdaugh Murders Podcast, we speak with Eric Bland about what the charges mean for his clients — the victims — and what is next for Alex Murdaugh. Will he be able to get out of this? Donate to the Stephen Smith Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/standingforstephensmith Stephen Smith Fundraiser https://www.eventbrite.com/e/standingforstephen-tickets-182108811357?fbclid=IwAR0vVJCVmgB1TFJ5s0Lb-pfSvIZ277avcihWrfL_4Sg80InYiBfLEUC8yW0 And a special thank you to: The Bannon Law Group - From sitting by the fires to setting them, the Bannon Law Group has got you covered. Lauren Taylor Law - Few events are more traumatic and stressful than a divorce - let Lauren Taylor make a plan tailor made for you. Ross & Pines - Uncovering the truth and fighting police coverups is what Noah Pines and his team of lawyers at Ross & Pines do when defending you from being falsely accused, or wrongly convicted, of committing a crime.  For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney Buy us a coffee at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MurdaughMurders\ Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We just learned authorities took Alec Murdoch into custody in Florida. This morning Alec Murdoch is again under arrest. Disgraced lawyer Alec Murdoch was arrested in Florida today. The high profile attorney at the center of a case involving murder, money and mystery is arrested in Orange County. I don't know if anyone killed Gloria Satterfield, but I know that there is a paper trail of evidence showing how Alec Murdoch was likely the mastermind behind a despicable plan to steal millions of dollars from her sons.

And this week Alec Murdoch was arrested on two charges related to that scheme. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two and a half years now. And this is the Murdoch Murders podcast. On the morning of October 14th, agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, also known as SLED, arrested Alec Murdoch and charged him in relation to the Gloria Satterfield case. And please go back and listen to part one and two of the Gloria Satterfield case before

this one. It'll make a lot more sense. Murdoch was charged with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each charge. According to a statement from SLED, the charges stem from a SLED investigation into millions of dollars of misappropriated settlement funds in the death of Gloria Satterfield. Today is merely one step in a long process for justice for the many victims in these investigations.

I want to commend the hard work and dedication that our agents have shown over the last four months, said SLED Chief Mark Heal. They will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of those who were victimized by Alec Murdoch and others. As I have said previously, we are committed to following the facts wherever they may lead us, and we will not stop until justice is served. Agents arrested Alec Murdoch after he was released from a Florida rehab facility for his alleged drug addiction.

According to sources close to the situation, Murdoch detoxed at a facility in Atlanta, Georgia, and then transferred to a facility in Orlando where he was scheduled to be released Thursday, October 14th, which is the day that he was arrested. On Thursday night, after a long day for the both of us, I called Eric Bland to get his reaction. Um, relieved, both professionally and personally, relieved, um, because I think it's good for the legal system. I think that our entire legal system and how we're approaching this is, you know, the

eyes of the nation are watching it. And so I applauded earlier Fled's decision and obviously the AG's decision to bring these charges. I talked with, uh, Chief Keele and I think that I was, you know, able to articulate that a rifle shot now is better than a shotgun blast and trying to charge him with everything under the sun at once. You know, this is a good opportunity to build a case on a case so that they, they obviously can bring more charges.

It disappointed me that he was only charged with two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses because there were three checks that he received, totaling over $3.5 million. So I think that they missed the boat in only charging them with two counts. But it's the start and obviously they, they'll, they'll bring additional charges as the investigation unfolds. So I was relieved professionally as a lawyer that I think our system again was stretched, but it didn't break. Today was a good day for justice.

Eric Land said he was also relieved for his two clients, Gloria Satterfield's two sons, Brian Harriet and Tony Satterfield. And then personally for my clients, I think that it was rewarding for them to be able to see that victims do count and that a man that they had revered and had great respect for and viewed as family will have to start being accountable for his actions. I think that it was a good day for our state, definitely a good day for our state because a lot of questions were being asked on how this guy can, you know, remain free when for two weeks now we have essentially proved a crime.

The only thing we haven't proved is where the money has gone, but that's not the crime he's charged with. He's charged with stealing the money, not whether he gave it to a charity or used it to buy drugs or a property or whatever. Eric Land believes that more charges will be filed against Ellick Murdoch in the near future and some of those charges could be federal. On Thursday, Fitznews founding editor Will Folks exclusively reported on efforts from Murdoch's attorneys Dick Harputlian and Jim Griffin to negotiate a backdoor plea deal

with federal prosecutors in the hopes of keeping Alex Murdoch out of state prison and landing him in the more comfortable prison known as club fed. I absolutely believe that before this is over with the federal government will bring charges and it'll have to be a determination on who's actually goes forward, but I do believe he's going to get charged with a whole host of mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit fraud and failure to file income taxes. So this is just the beginning and that's just one of many cases and many investigations. Well I can't speak to the other stuff, but certainly Jim Griffin is speaking to it.

Which by the way, if you missed it, earlier this week Jim Griffin dropped another strange bomb in the story and during an interview with Fox Carolina journalist Cody Elkhorn, Jim Griffin admitted to him within the first minute that his client is a person of interest in the double homicide case. Granted, Fitznews has been reporting that Ellick is a person of interest ever since the week of the double homicide. But before this week, no single person has gone on the record and admitted that Ellick is a person of interest in the double homicide.

It's very weird for him to say that. Last week, Eric Land published a bombshell motion that appears to show evidence stacked up against Ellick Murdock, his two friends Corey Fleming and Chad Westendorf and his law firm. Peter's Murdock, Parker, Ellsworth and Diedrich, also known as PMPED and Fleming's law firm Moss, Coon and Fleming, for their alleged roles in the disgraceful $4.3 million secret settlement for Gloria Satterfield, which was signed by Judge Carmen Mullen. So Bland also told me on Thursday night that he thinks that other co-conspirators could

be charged in this as well. In the last two weeks, Corey Fleming has been suspended from practicing law and Ellick Murdock has been charged with two felonies. But what about Chad Westendorf? Chad Westendorf and the bank that he works for, Palmetto State Bank, are accused of doing a lot of wrong things here. Here's Eric Bland again. Documents filed this week show how Westendorf and Palmetto State Bank allegedly played important

roles in the scheme. As a personal representative of an estate, Westendorf was in charge of managing the money of the estate and distributing the checks from the settlement. He was also obligated to fulfill his duties as an officer of the court. Westendorf is still the vice president of Palmetto State Bank and he's the president of the independent banks of South Carolina. Neither one of these institutions held him accountable for his alleged role in this scheme. And Bland also wants PMP, E.D., the Murdock law firm to own up to their alleged involvement

in this case as well. The law firm needs to treat the Murdock firm exactly how they treated their other clients who were victims of Alex's fraud. They were quick to tell everybody in early September, we made everybody whole immediately. Well, I want to see if they treat Gloria Satterfield the same way. And then the banks, that's going to be the object of our affection going forward to banks. Satterfield told me that his clients are feeling tremendous betrayal from Ellic Murdock and they want answers about their mother's death.

The Satterfield family was told that Gloria tripped on the steps at the Murdock's home on February 2nd, 2018. They were told that the Murdock's dog tripped her, which resulted in sustaining a traumatic brain injury. But despite some documents stating that the accident took place in Hampton, South Carolina, the incident allegedly took place at the Moselle property in Colleton County. The same property where Maggie and Paul were murdered on June 7th, 2021. On September 15th, Sled opened up an investigation into both Satterfield's death and her death

settlement. This is due to several inconsistencies in the case, including the fact that her death certificate said that she died of natural causes, which did not add up to any of the documents in the lawsuit which said that she fell. It's a tremendous betrayal they're feeling and then they went to, well, geez, they want to believe that their mother died accidentally. They don't want to have to live with the thought, nor does the family, that their mother or sister was murdered.

So they believe the explanation that the dogs caused the fall. And then today, it was a stark reality that this is a really bad person. College Murdochs are really, really, really bad person. That's the bottom line and that's a tough pill to swallow when you have seen this man walk around town like he's the cock of the walk. He's just a really bad person. There's no bottom to him. So many dominoes have fallen in this case in the last month.

But none of them would have fallen if it wasn't for glorious sons Brian and Tony and their bravery in stepping forward and going to a lawyer after they've been betrayed all of these years in early September and telling the lawyer that something went wrong with their mom's settlement and they needed help. And that lawyer referred them to Eric Bland. It's gone from, how do we even question Alex, okay, we'll go to a lawyer, we'll ask the hard questions, hopefully we get answers, he'll give us our money, to we didn't get answers, we had to sue, then we found, then we find out the fraud and we have to actually tell

them your money's gone. It actually was stolen by the guy that you revered. And everybody that you thought was representing you and you trusted from the law firm of Corey Fleming to the law firm of the Murdoch firm and to the PR, everybody let you down including the judge, you know, including the judge let them down. And all of those steps that Brian, Tony, Eric and Ronald have taken to expose the truth in this case led to Thursday, to Alec Murdoch being in handcuffs. For the second time in two months, Alec Murdoch is set to appear in court for another bond

hearing, but this time could be different. This time will be in Richland County, where the South Carolina State Capitol is, and it will be in front of a real judge who actually has a law degree. Circuit judge Clifton Newman will preside over Alec's bond hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday that would be October 19th at the Richland County Courthouse. The last time Alec faced a bond hearing, it was in his home court of Hampton County in front of a magistrate judge who allegedly had close ties to the Murdoch family. The last time Alec was given a very low bond and wasn't required to wear a GPS monitor.

Bond is typically determined by factors such as flight risk, whether or not the person is a danger to the community, the severity of the charges, and community ties, among other factors. If Alec actually has to pay his bond this time, the last time it was a personal recognizance bond, which means he didn't have to pay anything. And it'll be interesting to see what happens, especially considering his attorney Dick Harpeleon has said that his client is broke. Either way, Alec Murdoch, whose powerful family ran the prosecutor's office in the

low country for nearly a century, is going to have to spend a weekend in jail for the first time in his life. And that is a big deal. Alec Murdoch has two of the most expensive defense attorneys in the state. Whether or not they're the best is up for debate, but there are two of the most expensive and prominent defense attorneys in the state of South Carolina. So I asked Bland if he thinks Alec's defense attorneys can actually get him out of this. No way.

Now, there isn't a lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, Johnny Cochran, both from the graves, Dick Harpeleon and Jack Swirling, Joe McCullough, Pete Strom, and Jim Griffin could have their best days and they don't have a chance of getting this guy off. We have him tattooed, locked stock, and smoking barrels on this, unless the judge just says, well, you can steal 3.6 million and I'll give you a slap on the wrist. I don't believe that's going to happen. I don't believe that our judges are going to let that happen. He's gotten too many lucky breaks when the trial of how this happened comes out about

secret settlements and people were taking his name off the caption and nothing filed with the court and then he somehow is the defendant who pays the money and ends up with the money. No. Yeah. Now, I think the virtue in hiring Dick and Jim or anybody else is what kind of deal can they cut for him if he sings like a canary? Before we end this episode, I want to tell you all about a fabulous event coming up in

Columbia, South Carolina this month. On October 30th, a fundraiser will be held for the Stephen Smith family at the Capitol Club in Columbia. Proceeds will go to Sandy Smith's legal expenses and a scholarship fund in Stephen's name. I will be there. Cody Alcorn of Fox Carolina News will be emceeing. Check for links in the description and you can donate to the GoFundMe and I will be writing about this event at fitsnews.com in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that.

There's so much to unpack in this case and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired. If you believe like I do that Mandy is the best in the business and I'm a little biased, visit MurdochMurder'sPodcast.com and click the support the show link to learn how you can help. Get a 5 star review to offset the haters, refer an advertiser and get a finder's fee or advertise your company, product or service. We can geotarget across the globe and find the right audience to suit your needs.

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