![Former 'Basketball Wives' Star Brittish Williams Sentenced to Four Years In Prison For Fraud](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/brittish-williams-tout-102423-f3f91e6d849147f3bc24f361f68781c4-1920x1080.jpg)
Brittish Williams, a former cast member of “Basketball Wives LA,” has been sentenced to four years in prison for multiple fraud-related felonies, including schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the Associated Press.
She pleaded guilty to 15 federal counts, including misuse of a Social Security number, bank fraud, making false statements to the IRS, and wire fraud in May. This pattern of fraud took place over roughly a decade, even continuing after she was indicted, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Klocke.
U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey also 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.
The charges against the 33-year-old included “illegally obtaining pandemic-related business loans, using false Social Security numbers for bank and credit card fraud, submitting fake medical bills to an insurance company, and providing false information on tax returns.”
Williams appeared on “Basketball Wives” in its third season in 2014 while she was engaged to Lorenzo Gordon, who played professional basketball overseas.
“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.
At her plea hearing in May, Williams promised that her criminal days were over. “I will not commit any more crimes for the rest of my life,” she stated at the time, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.