American reality star, Brittish Williams sentenced to 4 years in prison for multiple frauds
American reality star, Brittish Williams has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for multiple frauds for her involvement in tax fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud, and pandemic-related schemes. ENoughinfo.com
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri, the former Basketball Wives star entered a guilty plea to 15 felonies, which included five counts of misusing a Social Security number, four counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to the IRS, and three counts of wire fraud.
American reality star, Brittish Williams sentenced to 4 years in prison for multiple frauds
“Brittish Williams was punished today, not for fraud, but for her celebrity,” Williams’ attorney, Beau Brindley, tells PEOPLE. “The Court chose to treat her more harshly due to her status as a public figure rather than treating similarly situated defendants equally.”
“Ms. Williams success is not a crime subject to enhanced penalty. And we will challenge this sentence through every legal means available,” Brindley said.
The 33-year-old Williams was given a four-year jail term, five years of supervised release following her release, and an order to pay $564,069 in restitution.
The pre-sentence inquiry report recommended a 63-month jail term, which was followed by Brindley’s recommendation of an 18-month sentence on Tuesday.
“You knew what you were doing. You knew it was wrong and you did it anyway,” U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey told Williams during the sentencing hearing.
“Not only are you out there for people to watch your entertainment, but also for people to watch you. … That’s a big obligation,” Autrey said, per Riverfront News.
Williams entered into a plea agreement in which she acknowledged to understating her income on her tax returns from 2017 to 2019 and to making up the status of her niece and nephew as dependents in order to avoid paying $29,366 in taxes.
American reality star, Brittish Williams sentenced to 4 years in prison for multiple frauds
Additionally, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the reality TV personality “fraudulently used Social Security numbers not assigned to her to open accounts with credit card companies and banks.” Williams created accounts, but failed to make payments on them; as a consequence, many victims lost $28,537.
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Following Williams’ check deposits and money withdrawals from the victims, the Social Security numbers that had been taken were also utilized to perpetrate bank fraud, according to the prosecution. An extra $23,850 was lost as a result of this.
The Basketball Wives star also applied for nine Economic Injury Disaster Loans, meant to support financially strapped companies in the event of the COVID-19 outbreak. Williams fabricated her criminal record, company income, and payroll. According to her plea deal, she utilized the $144,400 she received from the loans to support her opulent lifestyle.
Williams obtained $52,647 from four loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. Small companies utilize these loans to finance their payroll expenses, including benefits, for up to eight weeks.
The story goes on…
Williams registered for the California COVID-19 Rent Relief program after receiving an indictment in 2021. According to the prosecution, she made up her identity as a California resident and claimed to have a family income of $50,000 annually. She added that the pandemic had caused a “reduction in hours of work,“ which prevented her from paying her rent. Her payment was $27,801.
Williams had not submitted yearly tax returns since her 2021 indictment and had marked herself as “exempt” on a document with her previous radio station employer. Prosecutors claim that no taxes were deducted from her $90,000 pay as a consequence.
Furthermore, prosecutors said that she faked medical invoices and presented them to at least one insurance provider, which resulted in the payment of $139,479.92 to her and her accomplices, or both.
