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A South Carolina lawyer described in court documents as Alex Murdaugh’s best friend and roommate has been suspended from practicing law over allegations he helped the Scion steal millions of dollars in the part of a wrongful death settlement for his former housekeeper.
In a decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday, Cory Fleming was provisionally suspended, pending investigation, under a law that states “upon receipt of sufficient evidence to show that a lawyer constitutes a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or to the administration of justice ”, the court may suspend a lawyer.
The suspension is the latest legal issue for Fleming, a criminal defense attorney for Moss, Kuhn and Fleming, who has been charged in at least two lawsuits against Murdaugh.
“Cory Fleming is Alex Murdaugh’s best friend, his former college roommate and closest confidant,” Eric Bland, an attorney representing the sons of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, told The Daily Beast last month. “There is a Murdaugh story referring people to Fleming.”
Murdaugh, 53, is currently facing multiple charges after he allegedly tried to orchestrate his own murder so that his only living son could cash out his $ 10 million life insurance policy. The elaborate ploy came just three months after Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were found murdered outside their Hampton County estate. At the time, Paul was facing charges for a 2019 boating accident that killed a teenage girl.
Several court documents allege that years before Murdaugh’s public disgrace, his best friend Fleming had helped him clean up the mess. According to Island package, Fleming has been involved in Murdaugh’s legal affairs since at least 2017, when he represented Paul Murdaugh after he was charged with possession of alcohol at the age of 18. The charges were ultimately dismissed a year later.
Court documents indicate that around the same time, Fleming was representing the family of Gloria Satterfield, who died on their property in 2018. Satterfield’s son insists they never received a dime from the settlement of $ 4.3 million which was eventually traded, after Murdaugh allegedly embezzled the funds. in a fake bank account. Satterfield’s sons have since sued Murdaugh, claiming he encouraged them to use Fleming as a lawyer, without revealing their personal relationship to them.
This week, Fleming issued a statement admitting “clerical errors” in the wrongful death settlement, and placed the money confusion squarely on Murdaugh.
“When the time came to disburse the settlement funds, Mr. Fleming trusted his close friend and colleague to deal with him honestly and honorably, only to be misled and deceived in one of the worst possible ways to lawyer: Alex Murdaugh lied to Mr. Fleming to steal client funds, ”the statement read.
Fleming is also accused in a separate trial in September of helping Murdaugh attempt to “shift blame” for the February 2019 boat crash fiasco from Paul to another teenager on board at the time, Connor Cook.
A lawsuit filed on Cook’s behalf alleges that Murdaugh “encouraged and asked” the teenager and his family to hold Fleming back, claiming he was the “best” lawyer for the case. Fleming then allegedly told Cook not to speak to the police, “Increasing the risk that Applicant Cook will continue to be a suspect and face criminal charges as the operator of the boat.”
“Fleming’s instructions served to convert the involuntary plaintiff into a protection officer for Paul Murdaugh, exposing the plaintiff Cook to the possibility of being charged as a boatmaster and therefore responsible for the accident,” the lawsuit says .
Fleming also has ties to the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, where Murdaugh’s family had been lawyers for decades. According to his firm’s website, Fleming served as an assistant lawyer for two years immediately after graduating from law school. His tenure as chief prosecutor in the region coincided with the reign of Richard Murdaugh III as a lawyer.
“The rules of ethics will always prevail over the conduct of lawyers. It’s an absolute, ”Bland told The Daily Beast on Friday, when asked about the news of Fleming’s suspension. “It will be interesting to see if Alex [Murdaugh] contends that Cory was a victim and not a willing participant.
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