Date: October 7, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov St. Louis, MO — Brittish "Cierrah" Williams had her initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shirley P. Mensah. Williams was indicted on September 22, 2001 with five felony charges of misuse of a Social Security number, four charges of bank fraud, three charges of making false statements to the IRS, three charges of wire fraud, and three charges of aggravated identity theft. According to the Indictment, during 2017, Williams used false Social Security numbers in order to obtain a number of loans, lines of credit, and other funds from banks and financial institutions. Further, during 2018 and 2019, Williams deposited checks, without the knowledge and authority of the actual checking account holders, into several bank accounts she controlled and then withdrew the funds before those deposited checks were returned to the issuing banks for insufficient funds. The Indictment also alleges that Williams deposited fraudulent checks into bank accounts which she controlled and then withdrew those funds in cash before the fraudulent nature of the checks was discovered. Additionally, Williams is charged with submitting false information, including the names and Social Security numbers of individuals, to the IRS during tax years 2017, 2018, and 2019 falsely claiming that those individuals were her dependents on those submitted tax returns. This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. Special Assistant United States Attorney Diane Klocke is handling the case for the Eastern District of Missouri. Charges set forth in the Indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
