01x03 - The Well of Evil

[bunniefuu]

ANNE: Gloria Satterfield
was the Murdaugh housekeeper.

Gloria saw the Murdaughs
as part of her extended family.

So, when Alex came up to the boys

at the funeral of their
mother and said,

"I'm going to pay you
through my insurance,

because your mother died
on my property..."

..they believed him.
They trusted him implicitly,

that he was going to do
the right thing by them.

In 2019,

when the boys find out
that there's a settlement

of over half a million dollars,
they were shocked.

Gloria's sons know
nothing about him.

ANNE: To understand the full picture
here, we have to go back in time.

In 2015, six years before the double
murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh,

Alex allegedly opened a bank account
with Bank of America,

and it was called, "Forge."

Forge is also the name
of a very legitimate group

that handles these kind
of settlement claims.

MICHAEL: Forge Consulting is a

settlement funding company
out of Atlanta

for people who are coming
into large settlements.

It manages your money
for you, in a sense,

by doling out money
in small amounts over time,

rather than giving you
a lump sum of money.

So, any lawyer
that hears the name Forge

is gonna immediately identify
with Forge Consulting.

MICHAEL: That made it look
as though the settlement

went through Forge Consulting
in a legitimate,

settlement funding annuity.

But instead, that was his
personal bank account.

DREW: So after Gloria dies in 2018,

Alex Murdaugh approaches
Gloria's sons

and pitches them an idea to sue him,

so that they can get wrongful death
settlement money on her behalf

and be taken care of financially.

MICHAEL: Alex did, in fact,
represent them

in the lawsuit against himself.

It's ethically impermissible,
but it's not physically impossible.

He did it,
with co-council Cory Fleming.

They would agree to be represented
by Cory and Alex.

GREGG: But Alex did not make known
to Tony Satterfield

that this was someone who
he had been close to

for the better part
of three decades.

MICHAEL: And instead of
being loyal to his clients

and making sure that Brian
and Tony were taken care of,

he apparently did whatever
Alex told him to do.

Cory Fleming came to them and said,
"This is complicated stuff.

Let's get a business
person involved.

Let's get someone else to represent
your mother's estate,"

because somebody has to go in front
of the judge and say,

"This is okay."

ANNE: And the boys say,
"Yes, of course.

If we need to have a personal
representative,

we'll have a personal
representative."

So, we introduce a new character
to this whole scenario,

and that's a man named
Chad Westendorf.

He's a Vice President
at Palmetto State Bank.

He's a very powerful man
in a powerful position.

Once Chad Westendorf
is the personal representative,

he does not have to talk
to the boys anymore

about what's going on
with the settlement money.

That's the last the boys hear
about where that money actually is.

So, within 24 hours

of Chad Westendorf
taking on this new role,

Cory Fleming files the first claim
against Alex Murdaugh

for $505,000

But there were two insurance
settlements that happened.

MICHAEL: So, the first settlement
approval was the $505,000

and then Murdaugh
also had another policy.

ANNE: And that money
is a substantial amount.

That's 3.8 million dollars.

DREW: There were some
highly irregular dealings

when it came to the court paper work
in this case,

for example the settlement agreement

that had to be approved
by a circuit judge,

it doesn't even have a docket
number assigned to it,

this court filing.

ANNE: So, docket numbers are
incredibly important in our system

because whether or not
you're looking through it

on a paper file or you're looking
through it on a electronic record,

you've got to have a docket number,

you've got to know
where the court order is.

If we just think about
how many thousands

to ten thousands of orders are just
going through this one system,

through this one legal
system in this one court house.

How in the world are we supposed
to keep track of it?

How easy it would be if there wasn't
a docket number

to not keep track of it?

So it just, talk about suspicious.

I think that was a huge warning sign
that something was not right.

DREW: Then this actual settlement
room it never actually gets filed

with the court even though
the judge apparently

told them that they had to do that

and it was standard
procedure to do something like that.

ANNE: But there was a massive
multi million dollar settlement

that was coming through.

MICHAEL:
Both of the insurance companies

pay a total of 4.3 million dollars.

And by bringing Chad Westendorf in,

they were able to keep it
from the Satterfields.

ANNE: Once it's passed through
Chad Westendorf,

Cory Fleming, within this "Forge"
bank account,

it ends up in the hands
of Alex Murdaugh.

Chad Westendorf and Cory Fleming
say that they had no party

to this whole alleged scheme

to defraud the Satterfields.

Each says that he's a
pawn of Alex Murdaugh.

MICHAEL: The Satterfields didn't
know until years later

that there was any
settlement at all.

They learned about the first part
of the settlement, the $500,000

when it was reported
by a local reporter

who was looking into the boat crash.

ANNE: Tony and his brother
get a lawyer involved

to find out what's happened
to their mother's money,

the money that was supposed
to come to them.

There's gonna be a paper trail
when it comes to money.

There were checks,
and when checks are deposited,

there's ink on the back

that says exactly
what bank account it went to,

and those records exist,
and those records are discoverable.

Right? You can always find
where the money went.

GREGG: Tony Satterfield,

because of the unsolved death
of his mother,

still does not know what actually
happened on that day.

The only thing he knows is he was
robbed by Alex Murdaugh,

an attorney who was supposed
to represent his interest.

LINDA: After Maggie and Paul were
m*rder*d, when everything came out

of Alex doing what he did
to Tony and Brian,

I was in disbelief.

He's always been like family...

..and I just couldn't believe
that he did this to these boys.

To this day,
I still can't believe it.

MICHAEL: Seeing that name, "Forge,"
and realizing what he had done,

the first thing
some of us thought was,

"This can't be the first time,
right? Is there more?

Are there more victims out here?"

You can hide financial
crimes for a while,

but you get that one drop of sugar
in the glass, and...

The evidence is gonna be there

to make the rest of it fall
to the bottom.

KIMBERLY:
When you start tracing money

and you get in people's financials,
and who they're paying money to,

the books are open.

You can't put the genie
back in the bottle.

You better go ahead and just
fess up and tell the truth.

DREW:
All this trouble with Alex Murdaugh,

once that all starts snowballing,
there is mounting evidence

he was potentially involved
in more criminal behavior

than what was presently known.

It appears that he had spent years
and years defrauding people.

And so, we're starting to see
a lot of these people

starting to come out
of the woodwork.

ANNE: One of the more
heartbreaking cases to emerge

after the revelations
of the Satterfields

was Lieutenant Tommy Moore...

..a State Highway Patrol
trooper for South Carolina

who was involved in a terrible
accident on the job.

This was three years
before the murders

of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

The accident happened during what
we called "Snowmageddon" down here.

It probably snows once
in a blue moon.

A major snowstorm, for us...

..in January 2018.

THOMAS: The road was iced over
in most places,

and we had wrecks galore.

I was parked completely off the road
with my blue lights on.

The next thing I knew,
I just felt a big jolt,

and my seat broke
and threw me backwards.

ANNE: Trooper Moore said that when
that car slammed

into the back of him,
he knew something was very wrong.

THOMAS: I had an extreme
amount of pain in my neck,

and it basically felt like I was
being shocked with electric current.

ANNE: After the accident,

the doctors diagnosed him
with a sprained neck.

So he gets treated for that,
but the pain never really goes away,

and workman's comp is just diagnose
and treating a sprained neck.

THOMAS: Things were not getting
better. They were getting worse.

It just felt like a hopeless
situation.

ANNE: Trooper Moore
had to do something,

so he paid out of pocket and went
and saw a doctor for himself.

And what he discovers is that
it's not just a sprained neck.

THOMAS: I had some fractures,
um, and that I needed surgery,

basically, now.
The workman's comp denied my claims,

and that they were not
paying for surgery.

And so I knew, you know,
at that point,

somebody's got to pay the bills.
Nobody's gonna do it for free.

ANNE: Trooper Moore
could not afford to just take on

that kind of expense.
He needed a lawyer,

and he says that a friend of his
pointed him toward Alex Murdaugh.

THOMAS: He was confident
I had a case.

He was confident that everything
would be okay in the end.

ANNE: One of the things
that Trooper Moore said to me

was that he trusted
Alex Murdaugh implicitly.

There was never any doubt
in his mind, he said,

that Alex Murdaugh would
do the right thing.

THOMAS:
I had neck surgery after that.

It was well over $250,000
to my understanding.

ANNE: Meanwhile,
Alex Murdaugh is filing claims

on behalf of Trooper Moore

with the insurance companies,
trying to get a settlement.

THOMAS: My insurance
was a $100,000 coverage,

and that's what they paid out.

ANNE: That is money that is
delivered to Trooper Moore,

but before he deposits that check
in his own bank account,

he gets specific instructions
from Alex Murdaugh.

THOMAS: When he asked me to bring
him the cheque,

I had no qualms about it.

I gave it to him because I was told
that's how it work.

He told me that it would
have to be endorsed by me

and would have to be in some kind
of frozen account.

ANNE: Moore says that Alex says,

"We're gonna put it into an account
that can't be touched

until all of the litigation
surrounding your accident

is finished."

Months go by.

He hears nothing about
where his money is.

He was running up debt
and credit card bills.

He would call and ask
and was told the same story,

that he just needed to wait.

Trooper Moore never stopped waiting.
Trooper Moore never got that money.

That $100,000 cheque, it didn't go
into a protected account.

It went into the Forge account.

That money went into the same
account

that Alex allegedly used
for the Gloria Satterfield money.

It's unethical to deceive people,

and when you start thinking
you can get away with things,

and you start getting away
with things, you start

trying to get away with more things.

ANNE: PMPED says that they found out

that there were some irregularities
going on in their law firm.

It was money that had been
misappropriated, they said,

from clients' accounts,
as well as their own.

THOMAS: The Murdaugh law
firm called me and said,

"Look, Tommy. There's a problem.
Your money's been taken...

..and it's going to be replaced.

We're putting it back
in the account, but it was taken.

It was taken by Mr. Murdaugh,

and we're not gonna hang
you out to dry."

DREW: Is this something that Alex
Murdaugh had been doing for years?

Did he come up with this on his own,

or was this something
that was taught him?

Was he brought into this,
or was he the mastermind behind?

GREGG: Alex Murdaugh,

someone who's seen as the protector
of Hampton County,

who's now become the swindler
in chief of Hampton County.

MICHAEL: He stole from people
he was supposed to protect.

It's hard to imagine a clearer
and more obvious case

of a lawyer's breach
of duty to his client.

He stole money.

MICHELLE: I wonder how much

of any of this Maggie knew
or suspected

before Paul and Maggie
being m*rder*d.

She purportedly had seen an
attorney for a divorce earlier.

Um, it wasn't because
of things like this.

DREW: Alex Murdaugh's attorneys
have denied that

Maggie had been seeing
a divorce attorney,

but this is really kicking
into high gear around Labour Day,

about three months
after the murders.

ANNE: What was happening
behind the scenes

was enormous in Alex Murdaugh's
life.

Partners of the PMPED law firm,
that's Alex Murdaugh's law firm,

the family law firm...

They discovered
that there was money missing.

They say that
there is a suspicious cheque

that shows up on his desk,

and that money has been
taken out of clients'

and the firm's own accounts.

And his brother and his fellow
law partners confront him.

DREW: Alex met
with his brother, Randy,

and another partner at
the PMPED law firm.

ANNE: They confronted Alex Murdaugh
about embezzlement.

"What have you been doing?
What's going on here?"

GREGG:
Everything starts to fall apart.

You lie and you lie
and you lie and you lie,

and you expect your narrative...

..to somehow be the truth?

ANNE: And then, what happens is

something that no one else
could've ever predicted.

DREW: PMPED forces Alex
to resign from his position

with his own family's law firm,

based on his apparent embezzlement
of funds from the law firm

and stealing of settlement
money from clients.

ANNE: This is a law firm that
goes back more than a century.

His own great-grandfather had
actually founded this law firm.

Alex Murdaugh was one of the most
powerful lawyers in Hampton County,

possible the Low country.

One of the most
well-respected lawyers.

He comes from a legacy
of incredibly powerful

and important and well respected
members of this society.

And nobody could have ever imagined

that there was going to be
this kind of shake up

at the PMPED law firm.

That Alex Murdaugh,

one of the Murdaughs of this law
firm

would be asked to resign from his
own family law firm.

DREW: Alex now exposed misdeeds
of stealing from clients

and stealing from his law firm.

He says his world was
caving in that day,

the same way it had
three months earlier

when his wife and son
had been k*lled.

MICHELLE: This is massive fall
from grace, devastation.

Alex has certainly never been
in this position before.

The family has never been
in this position before.

All of a sudden, everything has
basically turned upside down.

ANNE: There is so much happening
at the same time

coming to a head
for Alex Murdaugh in his life.

Not only is he dealing
with the double murders,

he's dealing with lawsuits
from the fatal boat crash.

He's dealing with accusations
of embezzlement

from his own law firm.

The State Law Enforcement Division's

looking into the death
of Stephen Smith,

based on information
that they gathered

during the investigation of Paul
and Maggie Murdaugh's murders,

and they're looking into
Gloria Satterfield's death.

To fall this hard and this
fast for Alex Murdaugh

was an incredible amount of
pressure.

LINE RINGS

ANNE:
He was on his way to Charleston.

He was driving his late
wife's Mercedes,

and he gets a low pressure alert
on the car's dashboard.

So 911 dispatches, of course,
emergency personnel,

um, and law enforcement, as well.

ANNE: This is Labour Day weekend,
and in the middle of this day,

we get an alert that Alex Murdaugh
has been shot.

And I got on the phone
with Jim Griffin,

who was Alex Murdaugh's lawyer,

and said, "Mr. Griffin,
what's happened?

What's happened? He's been shot."

"Yes, he's been shot.
He was on the side of the road.

They're trying to get him
to a hospital right now.

I just got off the phone
with his brother, Randy."

I said, "Is he alive?"
"Yes, he's alive.

We don't know what condition."

GREGG: My initial reaction was,
"Maybe one of the people

that he had wronged finally came
back and dealt with him."

They were an older since of justice.

ANNE: We were told right
after the double murders

that the community wasn't in danger.

There was a huge concern
that something was going on,

that someone was taking a hit out
on the Murdaughs at this point.

DREW: It's just flooring.

And it sends your mind
into overdrive, like, "Whoa."

GREGG: There are so many questions
as it relates to the events

between the beginning of June
when Alex Murdaugh's

family members are k*lled

and September 4th, 2021
when he had been shot in the head.

MICHELLE: The car that Alex
was driving at the time

can go fifty miles with a flat tire
before ever being changed.

The road that he was on,

supposedly going,
I think he said, to Charleston,

is not the road that locals would
take to go to Charleston.

ANNE: We have been taken on so
many twists and turns in this story

and we're still finding out
what the details are.

Every single day we wake up

to check the press,
to check the newspapers,

to be looking at what's going
to happen next.

Now, the bizarre chain
of violence surrounding

a prominent South Carolina
legal family.

Attorney Alex Murdaugh
is expected to survive

after being shot
in the head yesterday.

It seems that the members
of their family

are being targeted by someone.

Who that is remains to be seen.

Certainly, the sh**ter
has got to be concerned

that the victim has survived,
uh, a g*nsh*t to the head.

There's so much mystery
surrounding this family,

it's hard to imagine
that this is random.

ANNE: Right after Alex Murdaugh
has been in this roadside sh**ting,

information starts tumbling out

that it's not just
that straightforward.

PMPED says that they found out

that there were some irregularities
going on in their law firm.

And they confronted Alex Murdaugh
about it.

Alex's bother Randy issued
a statement on the situation saying,

ANNE: Randy Murdaugh says that
his brother has done some things

that he needs to be accountable for.

That was a devastating moment
in that Murdaugh dynasty.

There are also several SLED
investigations going on.

And the unsolved double murders.

At that point,
Alex makes a decision that

he's going to come clean.

DREW: That's the time that the
apparent opioid addiction

is first put out there
by Alex's attorneys.

In a statement tonight,
Alex Murdaugh writes in part, quote,

Alex Murdaugh is now checked
in to a rehabilitation facility

and is recovering after being
shot this past weekend.

ANNE: It was at least another
week before Alex Murdaugh

told law enforcement another
version of what happened

on Old Salkehatchie Road.

Basically, in rehab,

he told officers that he hired a man
named Curtis Edward Smith

to help him commit suicide

so it would look like somebody
else shot him.

DREW: He hatches a scheme
to have himself k*lled

so that his son, Buster,
will get a ten million dollar

life insurance policy settlement
upon Alex's death.

Alex believing that if he
committed suicide himself,

the policy would not pay out.

According to Alex's attorneys,
that's the only way out that he saw.

South Carolina lawyer,
Alex Murdaugh turned himself in

after being accused of arranging
his own death

for ten million dollars
in insurance money

that his son would get.

MICHAEL: Everyone was
shocked by the, sort of fake,

suicide-for-hire thing
that happened,

so yeah, there's no telling
what's going to happen next.

DREW: Alex and Curtis Eddy Smith
are arrested.

Both on charges of insurance fraud

related to the failed assisted
suicide attempt.

Agents with the South Carolina
law enforcement division

have arrested sixty one year-old

Curtis Edward Smith
of Colleton County.

State authorities say Smith planned
the sh**ting with Alex Murdaugh

so that Murdaugh's surviving son

could collect a ten million dollar
life insurance policy.

After sh**ting Murdaugh in the head,

investigators say Smith drove
to an unknown location

where he disposed of the weapon.

ANNE: Curtis Edward Smith's
nickname is Cousin Eddy.

He's not a close
familial relationship,

to Alex Murdaugh,
but he's certainly part of the clan.

Alex's lawyers called Eddy Smith
Alex's long time drug dealer.

That is not what Eddy Smith
described himself as to me.

Eddy Smith described
himself as a buddy,

a brother, to Alex Murdaugh.

Is Alex somebody
that you cared about?

Yeah. I see it like a brother to me.

I'd have done anything in the world
for him. Almost anyway.

It's just, it's,

it's crushing to know that, that,

evidently I mean nothing to nobody,
especially him.

ANNE: According to Eddy Smith,
he said he couldn't believe it

when he was arrested
on these charges.

Because he said what happened
was very different that day.

He says that he went to
Old Salkehatchie Road

after Alex Murdaugh
called him and said,

"Can you please come?" and he did.

And he saw his friend in a lot
of distress and very upset.

When Alex pulled out the g*n,

they grappled and the g*n did go
off.

And it did graze the back
of Alex's head,

but he was fine,
to the point where he drove off.

He wasn't going there
to k*ll Alex Murdaugh,

according to Eddy's lawyers,

he was going there to save him.

Everyone around this guy
seems to die except him

when, coincidentally,
he wants to die.

That's the big question, Lawrence.

How does a guy,
that you hire to k*ll you, misses?

How does he fail at that?
That's the lead to me.

DREW: So, Alex's bond hearing
is in mid-September,

related to the assisted
suicide attempt

and insurance fraud scheme.

He was driven straight from rehab
to the Hampton County Courthouse.

ANNE: It was a reversal of fortune
for Alex Murdaugh.

This was a very powerful,
well-respected lawyer

who had graced these courtrooms
many, many times before.

He was in handcuffs.
He was wearing prison garb.

So, where was the g*nsh*t wound?
Is what everybody wanted to know.

When people are staring
at a back of a head

and you can't find a wound,

it was incredibly hard for people
to understand

what really happened to him that
day.

GREGG: Alex Murdaugh has been so
cold

and so calculating
and so deliberate,

and every single action in his life

from the time
that he became a lawyer

to the time that he allegedly tried
to engineer his own death.

ANNE: After this hearing,

he is allowed to leave
the state of South Carolina

and go to rehab down in Florida.

That's when the state starts
preparing its case against him.

There are several allegations
that they've been looking into.

Multiple investigations
that they are still working on.

DREW: The state police announce
they're investigating

Alex Murdaugh for financial crimes.

Potential theft of funds
from clients, his law firm.

ANNE: As Alex is sitting in rehab,

this money that he allegedly
misappropriated,

starts coming to light.

Now, the state is ready
to charge him again.

DREW: He's indicted again in October

on criminal charges related
to the death of Gloria Satterfield

after it's revealed
Alex Murdaugh stole

roughly 4.3 million dollars
from Gloria Satterfield's estate.

State police in Florida are there,
waiting on him

to pick him up as he walks out
of the rehab facility.

And they're preparing
to extradite him back

to South Carolina to face charges.

ANNE: When this bond hearing
happens,

it is literally a packed courtroom.

In just a period of a few months,

it has turned into
an international media circus.

And there are literally stations
from all over the country.

You can feel the pressure
and the tension

of what's going on with the
prosecutors and the lawyers.

The courtrooms also filled
with the Satterfields.

The sons of Gloria Satterfield.

COURTROOM CHATTER

Your honour, we're here,
today in the case

of State verses
Richard Alexander Murdaugh

He is, uh, here for a bond setting

on two Beaufort county
arrest warrants.

ANNE: We expected
that the Satterfield's lawyer

would be making a speech
saying, you know,

"These are terrible crimes
against the Satterfields."

ERIC: Your honour, my partner and I

have been doing legal malpractice
for thirty years.

And we have never seen
such a breach of trust.

A man who stole money,
from the very family

of the housekeeper
that helped raise his kids.

He had all that money.
He absconded with that money.

He transferred it into
his personal accounts.

And he used it for his
own personal use.

ANNE: What we didn't expect

was when the prosecution came
forward and said that,

"We believe that there
are multiple crimes

that allegedly were committed
by this man."

CREIGHTON: Um, your honour,
this is an ongoing investigation.

Your honour,
this is the tip of the iceberg.

Um, it is, uh, this is an ongoing
investigation

and I think there is going to be
far more

that we will reveal as we review
these records.

ANNE: The judge wanted
to know why they thought that.

So, there was a SLED agent there.

And, for a SLED agent to come
forward and talk to the judge,

it was an incredibly tense moment.

You could literally feel
this packed courtroom lean in.

TURNER: The South Carolina
Law Enforcement Division,

we are investigating
multiple different allegations

or investigations at this point
in time

to include the Stephen Smith death,
which you're aware of,

um, the actual cause of
Mrs. Satterfield's death,

um, we are looking into that.

Um, the financial case that
you're here with today

and numerous other financial
investigations dealing with,

with fraud or possible
other criminal actions.

That's not to say that there won't
be additional charges

brought forth in the future.

ANNE: The judge issued no bond.

And when he said "no bond,"

you could hear the gasp
in the courtroom.

There was no way we could have
expected for the judge to,

literally, say that Alex Murdaugh
was gonna remain behind bars.

ERIC:
I think it's a good day for justice.

We're pleased.
We thought that Alex is a danger to,

not only our clients, but society.

We think it's a good decision
and it's just a good day,

uh, for justice in our country.

GREGG: Alex Murdaugh faces charges
against him

for a muloo of different
alleged crimes.

For insurance fraud
to swindling to theft.

Not to mention lawsuits
which are knocking on his door.

ANNE: What we were told
when he was lead out

of the courtroom in handcuffs
was that he was going to go under

a psychological evaluation

to see what kind of state
he was really in.

So, immediately we were thinking,
how long would this actually hold?

How long would they hold
Alex Murdaugh in jail?

I don't know if I've ever seen
a life unravel faster

than Alex Murdaugh's.

Murdaugh is facing new charges, now,

for scamming millions of dollars,
allegedly.

ANNE: Not only did he now
have the double murders

hanging over everything.

He was also still dealing
with this fatal boat crash

and being sued
by Mallory Beach's mother.

As one case is uncovered,
another one is uncovered.

And these are financial crimes.

All kinds of new information
coming out

practically by the week.

Investigations that are now
circling the Murdaugh family.

Now the charges start snowballing
for Alex Murdaugh.

His family founded this firm
that he was tangled with.

And apparently he was stealing
money, as well.

LINDA: You think you know a person.

But then you turn around
and see him as this person here.

I don't know what went
wrong or what happened.

But no, he's not the person
that I grew up with.

KIMBERLY: This is a Pandora's box
that's already open.

I think the best thing to do

is for everyone to tell everything
they know.

Just put it out there
and let the chips fall.

DREW: Several more indictments
from the state grand jury come down

on more financial crime charges.

And this time the judge
did set bond.

The judge set his bond
at seven million dollars.

Judge Lee did site concerns about
Murdaugh's flight risk.

ANNE: That number,
seven million, was allegedly

the amount of money that was stolen

from various clients
of Alex Murdaugh.

Murdaugh's lawyers say setting it
that high is basically

the same as not granting
bond at all.

ANNE: The fall from grace for
Alex Murdaugh has been substantial.

His brother's suing him
and he sits in jail.

He has been suspended
indefinitely as a lawyer

in the state of South Carolina.

His name is no longer on
the family law firm.

Even though it was Peters Murdaugh
Parker Eltzroth and Detrick's,

it was known as the Murdaugh firm.

So, removing that name
is significant.

DREW: All those years of
well-earned cache and clout,

now thrown away by the
actions of one partner.

Suspended attorney Alex Murdaugh
has confessed

to wrongdoing for the first time

since facing a mountain
of legal troubles.

He agreed that he owes
four million dollars

to the family of his
former housekeeper.

There are new victims in
the Murdaugh money mess.

Twenty-seven new charges
related to money fraud.

Wire fraud, there's bank fraud,
there's mail fraud,

there's conspiracy.

Facing more than a
dozen new indictments.

Now facing twenty one
additional charges...

Five new indictments.
Money laundering, forgery,

breach of trust,
and computer crime charges.

Now facing more than 70 charges.

And Murdaugh faces 75 total charges

and stands accused
of defrauding victims

out of more than
eight million dollars.

GREGG: While it was despicable
what Paul Murdaugh did

the evening that
Mallory Beach was k*lled,

Alex Murdaugh was
one hundred times more evil.

He stole from people he was
supposed to protect.

He crashed his family's
four-generation legal dynasty.

And now he faces dozens
of criminal acts

because the people
he was supposed to help

he has cursed and he has ruined.

MICHAEL: People with power start

believing they can get away
with things.

Right? They can get away with things

because their family's been running
this listers office for generations.

To me, these are the kind of people
we should be more suspicious about.

ANNE: There's just so
many investigations

that we're still waiting
for answers on.

Every time we turn over one rock,

we just find another rock
to turn over.

GREGG: The Murdaugh family saga

started with the death
of Mallory Beach.

The boat crash was the kindle,
the tinder, and the fuel

that exposed the corruption
and nefariousness

of the Alex Murdaugh empire.

MICHELLE: Paul was driving the boat.

Paul was with Gloria Satterfield
and then Paul was k*lled.

The murders of Maggie
and Paul were the catalyst

for the investigation
into Stephen Smith.

KIMBERLY: My heart breaks
for Sandy Smith because

Sandy doesn't know
at who's hand her son died.

And she deserves to know.

So, I hope somebody can
find it in her heart

to tell the truth.
Just, just tell the truth.

LINDA: Honestly? I don't know.

I don't know what happened to
Gloria.

Tony and Brian,
they have lost their mum.

I don't care how much
money is involved.

It's not going to bring
their mum back.

ANNE: The breadth and the width
of the scandals

and the deaths that surround it...

This is a case that I don't think
we're ever going to see

anything like it again.