A former insurance agent from Tucson, Koreasa M. Williams, pleaded guilty last week to defrauding an elderly annuity client of more than $1,300,000. Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of Wire Fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Williams, formerly licensed in Arizona to sell life and health insurance, admitted she engaged in two separate schemes to defraud her client. In the first scheme, Williams admitted to inducing her client to cash in several life insurance policies in order to invest the proceeds in annuities to be procured by Williams. Williams admitted that over a period of six months in 2019, she fraudulently convinced her client to give her $1,200,000. Instead of investing that money for her client, Williams used almost $900,000 to pay victims of a prior unrelated annuity fraud scheme in an attempt to avoid criminal charges.
Williams subsequently pleaded guilty to wire fraud in that unrelated fraud scheme and was sentenced to 51 months in prison in December 2021. Williams used the remaining $300,000 to pay her attorney’s fees for the unrelated fraud scheme and to settle a civil suit brought by another client.
In the second scheme, Williams admitted to inducing her client to dissolve a charitable foundation and place more than $124,000 in an entity controlled by Williams. Williams was to hold the funds until a new entity could be established to receive the money that would then be used to care for her client’s disabled adult daughter. However, Williams never established the new entity and instead diverted more than $118,00 to her own use and benefit.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 5, 2022, before United States District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps.A former