Basketball Wives star Brittish Williams has been sentenced to four years in prison for multiple fraud-related charges, including tax, insurance, bank and pandemic-related fraud. The 33-year-old received her sentencing on October 24 for committing $564,000 worth of fraud, according to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.
Brittish pleaded guilty to 15 felonies: five counts of misusing a Social Security number, four counts of bank fraud, three counts of submitting false information to the IRS and three counts of wire fraud.
Upon receiving her sentencing, Brittish faced Judge Autrey, who told her, “You knew what you were doing. You knew it was wrong, and you did it anyway. Not only are you out there for people to watch your entertainment, but also for people to watch you.”
IRS special agent Thomas F. Murdock explained Brittish’s illegal actions, per the Attorney’s Office. “The defendant launched a scheme that led to a variety of financial crimes including tax fraud, bank fraud, COVID loan fraud and identity theft,” Thomas said. “Ms. Williams displayed a blatant disregard for the victims of her deceit. Financial crimes of this magnitude deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to Brittish’s plea deal, she admitted to under reporting her income on tax returns for the years 2017 through 2019 and falsely claiming a niece and a nephew as her dependents in order to avoid over $29,000 in taxes. Additionally, Brittish used other people’s Social Security numbers to open credit card accounts with various banks. After failing to pay it all back, victim companies lost over $28,000.
Brittish used those various Social Security numbers to open bank accounts, thereby committing bank fraud. She took over $23,000 from other people’s accounts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the VH1 personality submitted fake information in nine Economic Injury Disaster Loans that were intended to assist struggling businesses at the time. As a result, Brittish used more than $144,000 for personal uses and got an additional $52,000 from four Paycheck Protection Program loans.
In addition to committing multiple acts of bank fraud, Brittish also issued fake medical bills to one insurance company and applied for the California COVID-19 Rent Relief program.
PEOPLE obtained a statement from Brittish’s attorney, Beau Brindley, who claimed that the reality TV star received a biased sentencing because of her celebrity status.
“Brittish Williams was punished today, not for fraud, but for her celebrity,” Beau alleged. “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.”
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