Former Tucson insurance agent defrauded client of more than $1.3M

A former Tucson insurance agent pleaded guilty last week to defrauding a client of more than a million dollars.

Koreasa M. Williams, 49, formerly licensed in Arizona to sell life and health insurance, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud after defrauding an elderly client of more than $1.3 million, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona said.

In the first scheme, Williams admitted to persuading her client to cash in several life insurance policies to invest the proceeds in annuities to be procured by Williams, the news release said. She also admitted that over a period of six months in 2019, she fraudulently convinced her client to give her $1.2 million, using almost $900,000 to pay victims of a prior unrelated annuity fraud scheme in an attempt to avoid criminal charges.

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Williams later pleaded guilty to wire fraud in that unrelated fraud scheme and was sentenced to 51 months in prison in December 2021, the news release said. She 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 persuading her client to dissolve a charitable foundation and place more than $124,000 in an entity controlled by Williams, the news release said. Williams was supposed to hold the funds until a new entity could be established to receive the money that would then be used to care for the client’s daughter, who has a disability; however, Williams never established the new entity and instead diverted more than $118,000 to her own use.

Williams’s sentencing is scheduled for July 5.