Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to 27 Years for Financial Crimes: 'You Lied, You Cheated, You Stole'

Mar. 15, 2025

Convicted murderer and disgraced South Carolina attorneyAlex Murdaughwas sentenced to 27 years in prison Tuesday.

Murdaugh pleaded guiltyearlier this month to 22 financial crimes including money laundering, breach of trust and financial fraud, the South Carolina Attorney General’s office confirmed to PEOPLE.

“It is unimaginable to me that you have done some of the things you have done,” Circuit Judge Clifton Newman said,NBC Newsreported. “Whether it is you or someone you become upon using drugs or the process of committing crimes over and over, I don’t know. I don’t even know who I am speaking to now.”

Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP,

Another victim who spoke out was the son of Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeperGloria Satterfield, who died in a mysterious trip and fall.

Gloria Satterfield.Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home

“You lied, you cheated, you stole,” Michael “Tony” Satterfield told Murdaugh, NBC News reported. “You betrayed me and my family and everybody else.”

Ahead of sentencing, Murdaugh apologized to his own family and his victims.

“I want each of you who spoke to know I listened to you,” he said, per AP. “I heard you. Your pain and hurt is palpable… I promise you it resonates with me.”

“I hope that in time that each of you will be willing to talk to me,” he added. “I would like as time moves on to continue to reiterate just how sorry I am and how important it is to me that you know that.”

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Murdaugh came into the national spotlight on the night of June 7, 2021, when his wife, Maggie, 52, and youngest son,Paul, 22, were shot to death on the grounds of their hunting lodge.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh Facebook

In July 14, 2022, more than a year after Paul and Maggie’s deaths, Murdaugh was indicted for the murders. Murdaugh’s murder trial began on Jan. 23, 2023. During the sensational trial that lasted for nearly six weeks, a cell phone video Paul took on the night of the murders was shown to the jury.

The video — which was taken near the dog kennels on their Islandton property — featured the voices of Paul, Maggie and Murdaugh.Murdaugh had initially denied being near the dog kennelson the night of the murders, but when he was testifying in his own defense, headmitted to lyingabout his whereabouts that evening.

He was found guilty of the murders in March and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. His sentence for the financial crimes will run concurrently to his murder sentence.

source: people.com