An accountant from Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to federal prison for her involvement in a fraud and money laundering scheme. Margo Ann Williams, 63, was sentenced in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, following a jury verdict on September 12, 2024. She was found guilty of multiple charges including bank fraud and money laundering.
The trial revealed that between December 2022 and July 2023, five victims were targeted through hacked email accounts. These victims included a church in Cedar Rapids undergoing a $7 million renovation project. The hackers altered the email domain of the project’s general contractor, misleading the church into wiring over $466,000 to Williams’s shell corporation.
Williams used various bank accounts under her control to receive and transfer stolen funds. The fraudulent activity extended to two national cryptocurrency exchanges and an individual in Florida. Despite banks closing her accounts upon discovering the fraud, Williams continued opening new ones to further the scheme.
At trial, Williams claimed she acted under the direction of a famous British actor with whom she had formed a romantic relationship. She reportedly earned about $25,000 from the scheme and made personal purchases such as an Apple Watch and a Louis Vuitton handbag.
United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand sentenced Williams to 48 months in prison with an order to pay $594,037.41 in restitution. Post-release supervision is set for three years without parole eligibility due to federal sentencing guidelines.
Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy L. Vavricek and Kyndra A. Lundquist prosecuted the case which was investigated by the FBI. Williams remains free on bond until her surrender date is determined.
Further court details can be accessed at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
