'Basketball Wives' star in custody of US Marshals after 'miscommunication,' failure to surrender

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – U.S. Marshals took a former St. Louis area reality TV cast member into custody on Tuesday after she failed to surrender herself to federal prison to begin her sentence.

Brittish "Cierrah" Williams, 34, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to five counts of misuse of a Social Security number, four counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to the IRS, and three counts of wire fraud. She was indicted in September 2021.

The former "Basketball Wives LA" and "Marriage Boot Camp" star was sentenced in October 2023 to four years in prison, as well as five years of supervised release, and must pay $564,069 in restitution.

Last fall, Williams' attorney successfully lobbied for the court to extend her surrender date so she could spend the Christmas holiday with her 5-year-old daughter. The court moved the surrender date to Jan. 3, 2024.

However, Williams did not report to Federal Prison Camp Alderson in West Virginia on the appointed date. She was ultimately arrested in St. Louis.

Attorney Michael Thompson, who represents Williams, told the judge on Tuesday that her failure to report to prison was a "miscommunication" with her lawyers. Williams also apologized to the judge.

As a result, the judge ordered Williams' bond revoked and remanded her to the custody of the U.S. Marshals. She will be extradited to the women's minimum security facility in Alderson.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Williams had under-reported her income on tax returns from 2017 to 2019 and falsely claimed her niece and nephew as dependents. Williams also used Social Security numbers that were not hers to open accounts with banks and credit card companies, and then failed to pay those institutions back.

At the time of the plea hearing, Williams told the court she had submitted nine applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, designed to help struggling businesses, four applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, created to save jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one application for rent relief in California. She used $144,000 in loans from two of those applications to fund her lifestyle, and she also received more than $52,000 in PPP loans.

In January 2022, Williams applied for money with the California COVID-19 Rent Relief program. She claimed she was a resident of the state with a total income of $50,000 and that she couldn't pay her rent due to her work hours being cut because of the pandemic. She had stopped paying rent in July 2021 and received nearly $28,000 in funds from the state program.

However, the plea agreement states that the network that produces "Basketball Wives LA" paid Williams' $3,800 rent. Her work hours and pay were unaffected by the pandemic.

Prosecutors said Williams and co-conspirators received nearly $140,000 from at least one insurance company after she filed fake medical bills.

Williams also filed her annual tax returns since her indictment in October 2021. She listed herself as "exempt" on paperwork with her current employer, meaning there were no taxes withheld from her $90,000 annual salary.

The total known losses — actual and intended — from Williams' fraud schemes are $446,082, prosecutors said.

An indictment was filed against Williams' ex-boyfriend, 40-year-old Lorenzo Gordon, last month. The former pro basketball player was accused of falsifying applications for pandemic relief loans.

Originally from St. Louis, Gordon played basketball at Illinois State. He played professionally in France, Germany, Turkey and Israel.

Williams first appeared on the VH1 reality show "Basketball Wives" in 2014 when she and Gordon were dating. They later broke up but have a child together.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.