Reality TV star and St. Louis native Brittish Williams was sentenced today in federal court.
via: Page Six
Williams was sentenced to four years in prison for 15 fraud-related felonies.
In court Tuesday, the “Basketball Wives” alum, 33, reportedly asked the judge for leniency in her sentencing so that she wouldn’t be away from her daughter, Dash.
“I knew better and I did wrong anyway,” Williams said, per St. Louis-based newspaper the River Front Times.
According to the outlet, the former reality star also said that the idea of being separated from the 5-year-old was “heartbreaking.”
In addition to the four-year sentence, Judge Henry E. Autrey ordered Williams to pay restitution of $565,000.
“Brittish Williams was getting paid to portray her celebrity lifestyle on ‘Basketball Wives’ when in fact she was a typical fraudster,” said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg, per a press release.
“After today’s sentencing, her reality is now a life of a felon.”
In May, Williams, 33, pleaded guilty to five federal counts of misuse of a Social Security number, four counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to the IRS and three counts of wire fraud.
The crimes took place over the course of nearly a decade and continued even after Williams was indicted, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke.
Federal authorities accused Wiliams of illegally obtaining PPP loans that were meant for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “Marriage Boot Camp” star was also accused of under-reporting her income on tax returns from 2017 to 2019, fraudulently using Social Security numbers that were not assigned to her to open accounts with credit card companies and banks and submitting fake medical bills to at least one insurance company.
Williams joined the cast of “Basketball Wives LA” during Season 3 in 2014. At the time, she appeared on the VH1 show as the fiancée of overseas basketball player Lorenzo Gordon, who is also the father of her child.
The mom of one also co-hosted a morning show on a St. Louis radio station but reportedly lost the job earlier this year in the wake of her guilty plea.
