‘Basketball Wives’ Brittish Williams Appeals 4-Year Prison Term, Claims Judge Targeted Her Because She’s On Reality TV
Basketball Wives star, Brittish Williams, is hoping that a higher court will cut her a break as she faces four years behind bars. The reality star’s lawyer filed an appeal for a higher court to review the sentence that was handed down in federal court on October 24, Radar Online reports.
Williams’ attorney stated that his client is requesting that the appellate court review whether or not the lower court judge used appropriate guidelines when making his decision.
Williams’ case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the FBI. The 33-year-old pled guilty to a total of 15 felonies, five counts of Social Security number misuse, four counts of bank fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and three counts of making false statements to the IRS. The former reality star will be on supervised release for five years after serving out her prison sentence.
She was also ordered to pay $564,069.13 in restitution in addition to her four-year prison sentence.
U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey told Williams in his reprimand — “You knew what you were doing. You knew it was wrong and you did it anyway.”
Williams confessed to underreporting her income for the tax years 2017-2019 and to falsely claiming a niece and nephew as dependents, the Department of Justice reported. She also “fraudulently used Social Security numbers not assigned to her to open accounts with credit card companies and banks” and falsified financial information in nine submitted applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Williams’ lawyer, Beau Brindley, claimed that his client was treated unfairly in the wake of the sentencing hearing.
“Brittish Williams was punished today, not for fraud, but for her celebrity,” he said. “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.
Special Agent in Charge, Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division, labeled the fallen reality star a “typical fraudster” following the sentencing.
He said — “After today’s sentencing, her reality is now a life of a felon.”
Williams was reportedly furious about the 4-year sentence and immediately left the courtroom with friends.
Brittish Williams joined the VH1 reality show in Season 3, after she got engaged to Lorenzo Gordon, who played pro basketball overseas.
Williams was banned from attending a cast trip to Mexico after she was ordered to wear an ankle monitor following her arrest.
A judge allowed the removal of the monitor after Williams alleged that the device was hindering her work as a model. She claimed that she had to turn down an offer by Rihanna brand, Savage X Fenty, because she could not pose in lingerie with the monitor on her leg.
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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.
