Former reality TV star who was on ‘Basketball Wives LA’ sentenced to prison for fraud

ST. LOUIS — A former forged member of the reality TV display “Basketball Wives LA” was sentenced Tuesday to 4 years in prison for 15 fraud-related felonies, together with schemes hooked up to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brittish Williams, 33, of St. Louis, pleaded accountable in May to 5 federal counts of misuse of a Social Security quantity, 4 counts of financial institution fraud, 3 counts of creating false statements to the IRS and 3 counts of twine fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke stated the movements happened over kind of a decade, and the crimes endured even after Williams was indicted.

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey additionally ordered Williams to pay restitution of $565,000.

“You knew what you were doing. You knew it was wrong and you did it anyway,” Autrey said.

Federal authorities said Williams illegally obtained loans meant for businesses hurt by the pandemic. They said she also used false Social Security numbers to defraud banks and credit card companies, submitted fake medical bills to an insurance company, and lied on tax returns.

Williams appeared on “Basketball Wives” in its 3rd season in 2014, when she was engaged to Lorenzo Gordon, who performed skilled basketball in another country.

“Brittish Williams was getting paid to portray her celebrity lifestyle on ‘Basketball Wives’ when in fact she was a typical fraudster,” Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the FBI’s St. Louis office, said in a statement.

Williams, at the May hearing where she pleaded guilty, promised that her days of crime were behind her.

“I will not be committing any more crimes for the rest of my life,” she stated on the time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.