Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Newly released documents allege that Alex Murdaugh, a once-prominent South Carolina attorney now embroiled in scandals including alleged life insurance fraud, coordinated with his former housekeeper's family to sue himself for insurance money that he then pocketed for himself, according to a pair of affidavits released Saturday.
Murdaugh was arrested Thursday in Florida on suspicion of misappropriating settlement funds in connection with Gloria Satterfield's death, authorities said.
Satterfield, who worked for the Murdaughs for more than two decades, died following what was described as "trip and fall accident" at the Murdaugh home in 2018, according to attorney Eric Bland, who is representing her estate. Bland filed a lawsuit in September against Murdaugh on behalf of Satterfield's estate seeking the money they say they are due.
According to the affidavits released Saturday by the South Carolina Enforcement Division (SLED), "Mr. Murdaugh coordinated with (Gloria) Satterfield's family to sue himself in order to seek an insurance settlement with the stated intent to give the proceeds to the Satterfield family to pay for funeral expenses and monetary compensation for Satterfield's children." Murdaugh deposited more than nearly US$3 million into an account he owned, the affidavits said.
In an email to CNN, Bland disputed SLED's statement.
"These were legitimate claims that were brought in connection with Gloria Satterfield's death," he wrote.
Satterfield died, he wrote, after Murdaugh's four dogs tripped her, and her estate made an "appropriate negligence claim."
"The claim was not fabricated and Alex appropriately referred them to an attorney," he wrote. "The estate was unaware of the extremely close relationship though between (Cory) Fleming and Alex Murdaugh which was not fully disclosed."
CNN has also reached out to Murdaugh's attorneys for comment on the affidavits. After Murdaugh's arrest Thursday, his attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, released a statement saying he intends "to fully cooperate with this investigation, as he has with the investigation into the murder of his wife and son.
"He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders," the statement said.
Last month, SLED announced it was opening a criminal investigation into Satterfield's death and the handling of her estate, following a request from the Hampton County coroner that highlighted inconsistencies in the ruling of her death, as well as information gathered during SLED's other investigations involving Murdaugh, the agency said.
The investigation into Satterfield's death follows months of legal and personal challenges for Murdaugh.
In early September, Murdaugh was shot in the head and, authorities said, later admitted that his shooting was a conspiracy with a former client to kill him so his only surviving son could collect an insurance payout.
Murdaugh's shooting came less than three months after he called authorities to report he found his wife and youngest son shot dead at their home.
On Friday, Murdaugh waived an extradition hearing in Florida and a day later returned to South Carolina to face charges related to the misappropriation of settlement funds in connection with Satterfield's death.
The affidavits released Saturday describes what authorities say happened after Satterfield's death. Murdaugh recommended an attorney to the family, and that attorney brokered insurance settlements of approximately US$4.3 million, one affidavit said.
A settlement agreement stipulated that US$2,765,000 was for the Satterfield family, the affidavit said.
"The Satterfield family were never notified of the settlement nor received any of the proceeds from them, and the settlement agreement was not properly filed in the court record," the affidavit said.
Murdaugh directed the attorney to write a check to a bank account created and owned by Murdaugh titled "Forge," in order "to deprive the Satterfield family of insurance settlements owed to them by converting the US$2,961,911.95 to Mr. Murdaugh's own use," according to the affidavit. He had previously deposited US$403,500 to the same account as part of a preliminary settlement agreement, according to a second affidavit.
While there is a legitimate company called Forge Consulting LLC that handles insurance settlements, it is not affiliated with the Satterfield settlement nor the "Forge" account owned by Murdaugh, the affidavit said.
"Mr. Murdaugh titled the account 'Forge' as a misrepresentation in order to conceal misappropriation of the funds in question," the affidavit added.
After Murdaugh waived his extradition hearing on Friday, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Murdaugh's bond hearing on a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses will take place Tuesday at the Richland County Courthouse in Columbia.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.