‘There are no excuses’: Fleming, friend of Murdaugh, sentenced for scheme to steal $4.3 million

Cory Fleming, a former lawyer who was Alex Murdaugh’s accomplice in a plot to steal $4.3 million in insurance proceeds from the estate of the Murdaugh family’s dead housekeeper, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday in state court.

“We’re dealing with the consequences of the bad, and that is as bad as it gets in this case, for a lawyer who has a prior record,” Judge Clifton Newman said, seemingly countering defenses that Fleming should receive a lighter sentence due to no existing criminal record. “He has no prior convictions, but when you carry on a scheme of over a decade, that’s a record.”

Before sentencing Fleming , Newman talked slowly and at times groped for words. “This is unprecedented, this is unimaginable…. This is, I think, the greatest crime for a lawyer in the history of the state of South Carolina, certainly in the number of years (195 years in prison) being faced and the impact of the crimes on the citizens of the state.”

Newman stressed the impact of Fleming’s well-publicized betrayals of his clients, who were those he called “vulnerable people....I cannot imagine anyone in South Carolina going to a lawyer and having complete trust in what that lawyer says to them.”

Fleming, 54, a longtime Murdaugh friend who pleaded guilty Aug. 23, faced a maximum of 195 years in prison for the more than 20 charges of various financial crimes he was guilty of. The offenses included money laundering, computer crimes, breach of trust (embezzlement), insurance fraud and embezzlement.

The sentence for Fleming’s crimes against the family of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaugh’s late housekeeper who died of injuries in a 2018 freak fall at the Murdaugh house, was 10 years in state prison.

Fleming was also given a 10-year sentence, to be served following the first 10 years, for crimes committed against the family of Pamela Pinckney, which will run concurrently with the almost four-year federal sentence Fleming was given in August.

Fleming will likely serve less than 20 years because inmates serving non-violent crimes rarely serve their entire sentences.

Newman called the case unprecedented in the scope and scale of its “thievery.”

Despite letters and words of support from some friends of Fleming, Newman said his sentence addresses only the consequences of Fleming’s crimes.

In his job as a judge, Newman said, he is called upon to do justice and show mercy, but not to be “lenient.” Newman mentioned the book of Micah in the Bible, which instructs to practice justice, love mercy and “walk humbly with your God.”

Federal sentence

In August, Fleming was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison by U.S. Judge Richard Gergel for what the judge called “amazingly egregious conduct.” Gergel also ordered Fleming to pay $102,221 in restitution, plus interest, and a $20,000 fine.

The 46-month federal prison term Fleming is facing will be served first and count towards the 20-year sentence in the state system, officials said.

Newman said he had not reviewed Gergel’s sentencing documents before Fleming’s hearing because the state and federal courts are two different systems.

“I’ve never deferred to a federal court to guide my sentence as a state court judge,” Newman said.

Fleming pleaded guilty to the federal charges in May. He also surrendered his license to practice law, and he almost certainly would have been disbarred had he not done so.

State prosecutor Creighton Waters argued that Fleming should get consecutive sentencing for his separate state charges, rather than a concurrent sentence with his federal convictions. Consecutive sentences would mean Fleming would report to state prison after serving his federal time and that his federal time would not count towards his state time.

“It should not be buy one, get one free,” Waters quipped. “There needs to be independent accountability ... A lawyer should not get one-stop shopping for victimizing multiple clients over the course of a decade.”

Moreover, said Waters, the state charges include a crime stealing from a client some 10 years ago, a crime that federal authorities did not charge Fleming with because of the statute of limitations. This shows the Satterfield case was not one isolated incident but part of a “decade-long scheme of criminal conduct,” Waters said.

Fleming’s current remorse and apologetic nature, Waters argued, came about only after a state grand jury “caught him red-handed.”

Fleming’s attorney, Deborah Barbier, challenged Waters’ suggestion that Fleming’s 46-month federal conviction wasn’t sufficient for the crimes. She asked Judge Clifton Newman for a concurrent 46-month state sentence, arguing Fleming’s remorse and stating such a sentence would be enough to “provide just punishment.”

“This idea that justice hasn’t been served – I take issue with that,” Barbier told Newman. “Justice is not served ... by obtaining multiple convictions and requiring a man to serve two sentences for the same offense... No individual should be forced to serve two sentences for the exact same crimes.”

Barbier also told the judge about Fleming’s numerous good works, including helping poor and homeless people, mentoring young lawyers, using his construction skills to help people whose plumbing has gone bad and doing legal work for those who could not afford it.

“At the heart of this, he’s a good person who made some very bad decisions,” Barbier said, adding Fleming is genuinely remorseful. “We are all better than the worst thing that we’ve done.”

What Fleming said

Fleming, rising and speaking softly to the courtroom after his group of supporters had spoken, expressed his regrets directly. He spoke through tears at the end of his statement, acknowledging the “turmoil” he brought to his family.

“For many years I stood in this very courtroom representing people, many of those people had broken the law. I was very aware that one bad decision or a series of bad decisions could have life changing and irreversible consequences,” Fleming said. “There are no excuses. I place the blame for my actions on my shoulders.”

Fleming thanked the Satterfield family for their forgiveness, and apologized for his deception.

Fleming was charged with stealing the money from the estate of Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 after falling on the front steps at the Murdaugh family house on the 1,770-acre estate they called Moselle in rural Colleton County.

“Your mother was a wonderful woman,” Fleming said. “You deserve someone who would not betray your trust. I did not do those things. I failed you.”

The stolen money came from a scheme concocted by Murdaugh that had Fleming, an old law school friend, suing Murdaugh to get the proceeds from liability insurance on Murdaugh’s house paid to Satterfield’s estate. Murdaugh wound up with far more than Fleming in the scam.

Fleming had also pleaded guilty to stealing money 10 years ago from Pamela Pinckney, whose handicapped son had been represented by Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh also recommended Russell Laffitte, the now former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, act as her son’s conservator after the accident that left her and her son severely injured, and ultimately led to her son’s death.

Also speaking was Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, the attorney who represented Pinckney. He told the judge that Fleming’s crime was a “black eye” to attorneys across the state and the legal profession, “a dagger in the hearts of clients who trusted their attorneys.”

Pinckney, who only earns a fraction of what Fleming used to earn as a lawyer, was not shown any compassion or empathy by Fleming, who took her money to pay for a trip to the College World Series “to watch baseball,” Bamberg said. Fleming might regret what he did, but “we do not believe he is remorseful for what he did,” Bamberg said.

Attorney Eric Bland, who represented the Satterfield heirs, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott, told Newman that Fleming knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Murdaugh steal from his clients. “It was just blatant — evil!”

Bland also told the judge to give a sentence that tells all South Carolina lawyers, ”You cannot steal from your clients!”

Laffitte has also been charged with numerous white-collar crimes connected to Murdaugh. He appeared before Newman on Thursday, but Newman deferred setting a trial date for Laffitte until later this fall.

This story was originally published September 14, 2023 at 4:04 PM.