An ex-Merrill Lynch advisor barred from the industry in April now faces felony grand theft, fraud, money laundering and criminal use of personal information charges alleging he stole funds from a former client — retired Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones.
Jones reportedly lost nearly $2.6 million.
Former Merrill advisor Isaiah T. Williams Jr., 33, was arrested in June in Palm Beach County, Florida, and released last week on a $1 million bond in connection with the alleged theft, according to records from local authorities.
Broward County prosecutors accuse Williams of scheming to defraud Jones and transferring the client’s money to accounts that he used for his own benefit, without permission, while acting as his financial advisor from May 2020 to April 2024.
He’s also accused of scheming with another defendant, Octavia M. Graham, 52, of Georgia, to take Jones’ property for his own use. Graham, who was arrested last week, was charged with felony grand theft in the first degree, court documents show.
Williams also is charged with fraudulently using Jones’ personal information, and with violating Florida’s money laundering law by attempting to conceal the source of ill-gotten funds.
“This is yet another troubling example of a professional athlete being exploited by a wealth management firm he trusted. In this case, the wrongdoer was a Vice President at one of the world’s largest financial institutions — Bank of America’s investment management division, Merrill Lynch,” Jones’ lawyers, Chase Carlson and Jeff Sonn, said in a statement.
The lawyers added that they have filed an action “to hold Merrill Lynch accountable and are working to recover all damages our client has suffered.”
Williams’ LinkedIn profile describes him as a senior financial advisor, vice president, with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. His record with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, however, shows his affiliation with the firm ended in January after he voluntarily resigned while under internal review into “allegations of misappropriation, unsuitable asset allocation, misrepresentations, and an improper business activity.”
He was permanently barred from the industry in a FINRA settlement arising from that resignation. Without admitting or denying FINRA’s findings, Williams accepted the bar after refusing to provide information requested by the authority.
A spokesman for Merrill Lynch parent Bank of America told ThinkAdvisor in an email Tuesday: “Whenever we learn of potential wrongdoing, we promptly investigate, fully cooperate with regulators and law enforcement, and work with the client to compensate them for any harm caused by an employee. Putting clients first and protecting client assets have been guiding principles of Merrill since our founding more than 100 years ago.”
Williams’ attorney in his FINRA case didn’t immediately respond to an email sent Tuesday. An email sent Tuesday to a general address at a firm where Williams is listed as managing director and CEO on his Securities and Exchange Commission record, Bascom Hill Wealth, received no immediate response. The Bascom Hill website was in maintenance mode Wednesday.
Graham was arraigned and pleaded not guilty Monday; she is in jail in Broward County, with bail set at $75,000, pending a hearing on the bail source, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said. An email sent Tuesday to the public defender’s office in Broward County has not received a reply.
(Photo of Isaiah T. Williams courtesy of Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office website)
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