BIG MONEY

Here Are the Massive Checks Alex Murdaugh Allegedly Gave His ‘Drug Dealer’ Cousin

Curtis Edward Smith has always denied any role in the bizarre plot involving the disgraced lawyer. But new documents appear to show him receiving wild sums of money.

The estate of Gloria Satterfield, the late housekeeper for the embattled Murdaugh legal dynasty in South Carolina, is now officially going after patriarch Alex Murdaugh’s alleged co-conspirator in the jaw-dropping assisted-suicide plot that punctuated his fall from grace.

Curtis Edward Smith, a 61-year-old who has previously identified himself as a distant cousin of Murdaugh, was named in an amended lawsuit Eric Bland shared with the Daily Beast and said he filed Thursday in Hampton County. The suit alleges he was a co-conspirator in an alleged scheme to steal millions from Satterfield’s wrongful death settlement. The suit further alleges that, in total, Smith received around $2 million in stolen funds from two fake Bank of America accounts allegedly set up by Murdaugh to divert money that would otherwise have gone to Satterfield’s sons after her death.

Prosecutors have previously alleged that, after Satterfield died in an incident at a Murdaugh property in 2018, disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh coordinated with the housekeeper’s family “to sue himself in order to seek an insurance settlement.” Satterfield’s two sons, however, insist they did not receive a dime of the $4.3 million settlement, which prosecutors allege Murdaugh negotiated in secret, ultimately diverting the cash into a secret bank account for his “own use.”

Murdaugh, 53, is already facing several charges in connection with the Satterfield settlement in addition to the charges he faces after allegedly conspiring with Smith to stage his own murder in order to obtain a $10 million insurance payout for his own surviving son, Buster.

Now, the Satterfield lawsuit is pointing the finger at Smith, alleging he knowingly received money from Murdaugh’s secret account that was meant for the wrongful death settlement. In total, Murdaugh is accused of writing 254 personal checks totaling $1,825,560 in addition to 17 cashier checks that totaled $164,748.76 to Smith.

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Attorneys for Smith and Murdaugh did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. While Smith has not been charged in connection with the Satterfield settlement nor any alleged stolen funds, prosecutors have charged him in connection with the assisted-suicide scheme, as well as the distribution of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana in another, unrelated case.

The 17 cashier checks, which were included in the amended complaint, were issued between Oct. 8, 2019 and May 28, 2018. The checks appear to show that Murdaugh paid Smith every few days, with most amounts over $9,000. The smallest amount Murdaugh allegedly paid Smith, according to the checks in the lawsuit, was $4,150 on Dec. 11, 2020.

The last check, which totaled $22,109, was dated just 10 days before Murdaugh found his wife and son, Paul, murdered outside their Hampton County home, the shocking episode that placed the family firmly on the national radar.

The lawsuit does not make clear why Smith was alleged to be receiving the funds—and Smith has previously denied Murdaugh lawyers’ assertion that he was, at least at one time, the scion’s drug dealer. Murdaugh’s attorneys have gone to great lengths to argue he is coping with a drug addiction, even as he faces a sprawling array of criminal and civil cases.

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Pilar MelendezSenior National Reporter

Matt TaylorEditor

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