Former attorney Cory Fleming was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for helping his longtime friend Alex Murdaugh siphon millions of dollars from Murdaugh’s clients and former law firm.

Fleming is already serving 46 months in federal court on similar charges, but Judge Clifton Newman decided that wasn’t nearly enough and gave Fleming two back-to-back 10 year sentences on state charges, the Charleston Post and Courier said.

“You must suffer the consequences of your actions,” Newman told Fleming after four hours of testimony and arguments in a courtroom packed with his supporters.

Earlier, in the same courtroom, Newman set a November 27 trial date for the first of many trials for Murdaugh himself on state charges, as CrimeOnline reported. The first case concerns the $4.3 million settlement he reportedly stole from the estate of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in a fall at his home in 2018.

Fleming’s charges also stem from that case, as well as one involving Pamela Pinckney, who was badly hurt in a car accident. Prosecutors said Fleming was responsible for a total theft of $3.7 million.

Fleming pleaded guilty in all his cases — one charge in federal court and 23 in state court. While the federal court judge said that he intended his sentence to cover both state and federal charges, Newman was not bound by that and said he didn’t read the federal decision before making his.

“This is unprecedented. This is unimaginable,” Newman said. “This is, I think, the greatest crime for a lawyer in the history of the state of South Carolina.”

Fleming is the only person so far to serve time for the multi-million fraud scheme. Murdaugh is serving two life sentences for the murders of his wife and son.

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[Featured image: Alex Murdaugh/Hampton County Sheriff’s Office and Cory Fleming/Moss, Kuhn & Fleming]