0:02

Previously on Queen of the Cohn She

0:05

infiltrated my life. She became

0:07

my best friend. In her

0:10

exact words, I was the sister

0:12

that she never had.

0:14

Kristin Williams, the wife of NFL

0:16

running back Ricky Williams, starts unraveling

0:19

financial manager Peggy Fulford's

0:21

massive, multi million dollar fraud.

0:24

We realized that we're paying for

0:26

Peggy's lavish lifestyle, the

0:29

Bentley Rolls, Royce, the

0:31

range Rovers, all of her homes.

0:34

The only problem is Kristin's husband,

0:37

Ricky Williams, refuses to believe

0:39

it. Peggy's got him snowed

0:41

with her Oscar worthy performances.

0:44

She's like ball of crying. She's like, I

0:46

hope you don't believe this, Like I would never do

0:49

this to Ricky, And she's like staying all this up,

0:51

and I'm just like, I don't believe

0:53

you.

0:53

And what did Ricky get from her?

0:55

Like he got from her that she

0:58

put his money in stocks

0:59

and like his money is spread out,

1:02

So in his mind he's thinking, Okay, let's give her

1:04

time.

1:05

And Ricky gives Peggy plenty

1:07

of time, but he never sees

1:09

any of his money ever again. And

1:12

it's the beginning of the end of Peggy

1:14

Fulford's many scams. But

1:16

the crazy, unbelievable drama

1:19

is just getting started. I shouted

1:21

out loud when I saw that. I literally said,

1:24

and I said, you fucking way, is

1:26

what I said. I'm

1:38

Jonathan Walton and this is Queen

1:40

of the con The Athlete Whisperer

1:44

Episode five, deceit

1:46

from the very beginning.

1:55

Once it all happened with the Irs, because

1:57

Kristen I was one of the first people that she called

2:00

once the IRS called them

2:02

and said how much they owe and blah blah blah.

2:05

That's Chantelle Cohen again, Ricky William's

2:07

lifelong friend. Peggy had successfully

2:10

driven a wedge between Ricky's wife

2:13

Kristin and Chantelle, but now

2:15

both of them are finally talking and

2:18

they have a lot to say.

2:20

We sat on the phone for hours

2:23

of just thinking of all these stories

2:26

and things she said to us, and just

2:28

all the way down to how she played Kristin and

2:30

I against each other to where I

2:32

didn't think Kristin liked me, she didn't think that

2:34

I liked her, to where we wouldn't talk.

2:37

So she kept you guys separate.

2:39

Separate so she could do whatever she

2:41

needed to do over in that house, and

2:43

I was over here because I said to Kristin

2:47

months into them hiring Peggy,

2:49

and I said, make sure that she gives you

2:51

like an outomized thing of

2:53

what she's paying monthly for you guys, so you

2:55

know exactly where your money's going. Maybe it's

2:58

something that she puts in the refrigerator. She

3:00

just stops by and drops it off at you, guys. You

3:02

should know where your money's going, like, even

3:04

though she's given you guys an allowance, like, you

3:07

should know where

3:09

your money's going. I don't know if

3:11

Kristin mentioned it to Peggy.

3:14

I'm guessing she did, and that's one

3:16

of the reasons Peggy made sure Kristin

3:18

and Chantelle never spoke again.

3:21

But now Peggy's lies are

3:23

laid there, out in the open for

3:25

everyone to see.

3:26

Because even with Dennis Rodman, he didn't

3:28

want to come out and say anything. I know, his

3:31

person was one of my good friends. So

3:33

we talked about it, and I was like, no, you have

3:35

to tell Dennis like he's on a trip

3:37

with her son.

3:38

That's right, Remember, Elkin, my responsibilities

3:41

were to like completely run Dennis.

3:44

Peggy convinced Dennis Rodman that Elkin

3:46

was her brother, when in reality

3:49

he's her son. And at this point

3:51

in twenty thirteen, Elkin is with Dennis

3:53

Rodman in North Korea while

3:56

Chantelle and Kristen are realizing Peggy

3:58

is a con artist, and Chantelle

4:01

is urging Dennis's assistant over the

4:03

phone to tell Dennis Rodman

4:05

asap, like.

4:07

You have to let him know what's going on with us,

4:10

and so that person had to talk with Dennis, and

4:12

Dennis is like, I don't want to deal with it. Then we

4:14

have to get lawyers and blah blah blah. But then it

4:16

was like the more stuff started

4:19

coming out, then there's no way

4:21

for you to not deal with it,

4:23

you know, at the end of the day. So he had to

4:25

deal with it, and it all came.

4:26

Out, and

4:29

by this point, Ricky Williams finally

4:31

sees the truth about Peggy,

4:34

and on December sixteenth, twenty

4:36

thirteen, six years

4:39

after hiring Peggy to manage their finances,

4:42

he and his wife Kristen file a

4:44

lawsuit in Houston against

4:46

Peggy, accusing her of

4:49

fraud.

4:51

Plaintiffs Ricky and Kristin Williams,

4:54

collectively plaintiffs filed this verified

4:56

complaint and application for temporary

4:58

restraining order and pliminary injunction.

5:01

My buddy, Evan Goldstein, and I are examining

5:04

all the legal filings in that lawsuit.

5:07

It took me weeks to dig up all these

5:09

court records and then figure out who all

5:11

the court reporters were and make formal

5:13

requests for transcripts and audio

5:15

recordings. But my god,

5:18

these filings tell one hell

5:20

of a story.

5:21

In two thousand and seven, mister Williams engaged

5:24

Miss Wilford and King Management, collectively

5:27

defendants, to manage all of his finances

5:29

and investments.

5:31

So this is two years before

5:33

Dennis Rodman signs on. Dennis

5:35

Rodman signs on hires Peggy in two thousand

5:37

and nine. Ricky Williams is two

5:40

years earlier, in two thousand and seven.

5:41

Yeah, and she kind of met Dennis Robin because

5:43

Ricky Williams was opening a restaurant right

5:46

that was kind of her way in with rod.

5:47

One led to the other. It's a chess game for her.

5:51

And while we're talking about Ricky Williams restaurant,

5:53

the one on South Beach called Proof, it

5:56

actually ended up closing and according

5:58

to Ricky's business partner, A

6:00

credit card machine in that restaurant

6:03

was secretly swapped out for

6:05

another credit card machine that

6:07

allegedly fed directly into a

6:09

bank account controlled by

6:12

Peggy.

6:13

And we had to shut down Proof because allegedly

6:16

she was still in money from Proof.

6:18

And Chantel Cohen watched it all

6:20

happen without realizing what she was

6:23

actually witnessing until years

6:25

later.

6:26

I was like.

6:26

Cleaning my house a few

6:28

years ago and I found postcards

6:31

that she would send me from like China, Paris.

6:35

Like I'm like, was this on Dennis's

6:37

dime, Ricky's dime?

6:38

Like ooh?

6:39

Was treated in these trips? And

6:42

I've seen multiple cars,

6:44

big houses, just like all this stuff.

6:47

And I'm just like, when

6:49

you came into this, how much money

6:51

did you actually have? Like

6:54

how much was actually your money before

6:56

you started doing X, Y and Z with all these people.

6:59

I don't think any of it was her money ever.

7:02

As for Ricky Williams lawsuit.

7:04

Miss Fulford maybe served at two eight

7:06

four to one Northeast thirty fifth Court,

7:08

Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

7:12

Now that's a hell of a house she's living in in Fort

7:14

laud Is it like a mansion, Yes, it's a mansion

7:16

on the on the Intracoastal. Oh yeah, waterfront.

7:20

Those are super nice. It's got BMW's

7:22

and Bentley's in the driveway. She is

7:24

a baller. I remember every sense of the word.

7:26

When I was a kid, I went down the Inner Coastal Waterway

7:29

and like on a tour and they're like, oh, there's

7:31

Madonna's house.

7:32

Yeah, there's it.

7:33

Like it's just very very well to do,

7:35

very big giant houses, and they have they all

7:37

have their kind of like docks in the back with their little

7:39

dinghies and like boats, and it's

7:42

it's uppercrust and it's.

7:43

A million dollar lifestyle that she's using

7:46

Ricky Williams money to furnish.

7:49

Yeah, that's a hell of an address.

7:51

And I'm posting pictures of that address,

7:54

Peggy's three point six million

7:56

dollar Fort Lauderdale mansion inside

7:59

and outside, front and back at

8:01

Queen of the Con on Instagram so you

8:04

can see for yourself one of the opulent

8:06

smoke screens Peggy used to trick

8:08

victims into thinking she was a multi

8:11

millionaire investing whiz.

8:16

Between two thousand and seven and twenty twelve,

8:18

mister Williams earn income of approximately

8:21

eleven million dollars.

8:22

So it's like two million plus a year.

8:25

That's the money he's making, and that's the money

8:27

she has access to.

8:29

Onor about August fifteenth, two thousand

8:31

and eight, miss Fulford and mister Williams established

8:33

a joint checking count at SunTrust

8:36

Bank in Orlando, Florida, without

8:38

the knowledge or permission of plaintiffs. Miss

8:41

Fulford received and used a debit card for the

8:43

joint account. Plaintiffs were never

8:45

provided a debit card for the joint account.

8:47

So this is like her funny money fund.

8:49

Yeah, it's she gets a debit card for their account

8:52

and doesn't give them a debit card.

8:53

Yeah, it's just like straight to the Fendi bags

8:55

and stuff. After

8:58

opening the joint account, miss Fulford is ablished

9:00

at least six other accounts at sun Trust Bank

9:02

under several different names, including King

9:04

Management. So she's just like moving

9:07

this around.

9:08

In the end, though, court record show Peggy

9:11

actually opened eighty five

9:13

different bank accounts that she used

9:16

to steal from her clients, including

9:18

Ricky Williams.

9:20

Between opening the joint account in August twenty

9:22

twelve, approximately six million dollars

9:24

was transferred via account transfers, wire

9:27

transfers, check card debits, written

9:29

checks, or cash withdrawals out of the

9:31

joint account by miss Fulford without

9:33

plaintiffs authorization or knowledge.

9:36

Six million dollars she's moving around like

9:39

that seems like such an oversight.

9:41

How do they not miss that like six million

9:43

dollars? Well, here's why. Because she

9:45

pitched them as this financial

9:48

guru who's going to put them on a strict budget,

9:51

invest the access of their money,

9:53

and create what she kept calling generational

9:55

wealth for their kids. So they believe her.

9:57

They try to say, this money is not liquid anyway

9:59

she's in. It's not like they could just pull it out

10:01

of the stock market or whatever money market, whatever

10:04

she says she's doing.

10:05

They're not missing it because they think she's

10:07

investing in.

10:08

She's building wealth with it. Right, It's just leave

10:10

it there, don't touch it. This is for your kids and

10:12

your kids' kids.

10:13

Let it ride. Yep. But

10:15

the craziest part of this whole lawsuit

10:18

is after the break, we'll be right

10:20

back. Welcome

10:29

back to Queen of the con. My

10:31

buddy Evan and I are going through the Ricky

10:33

and Kristen Williams lawsuit accusing Peggy

10:35

of fraud.

10:36

Paige by Page Honor

10:38

about September twenty thirteen, Miss

10:41

Fulford ceased all communications

10:43

with Miss Williams. So it's

10:46

kind of like years go by, what's

10:48

going on with our money? And then basically by

10:50

twenty thirteen she's like, Okay.

10:52

Bye, I gotta go. She ghosted them,

10:55

She totally ghost it. She ghosted them, and she ghosted

10:57

Dennis Rodmins people, and she ghosted Rashad

11:00

mccent's people. This is her thing. When

11:02

she gets found out, she ghosts and she's on

11:04

to the next. But here's

11:06

what's different. Travis

11:09

Best kept it quiet. Rashad mccent kept

11:11

it quiet. Ricky Williams's

11:13

wife is pissed.

11:15

One question is like, would she have gotten

11:18

away with this had Ricky Williams wife not have been

11:20

pressing her, you know, if it was just Ricky Williams.

11:23

Yeah, she just scammed another day for maybe she

11:25

would have got away with it. It was the wife. It was

11:27

the wife. Yeah. By all accounts, she was the

11:29

catalyst to take her down. Evan

11:33

continues reading from the lawsuit.

11:35

Mister williams twenty ten personal

11:37

income tax return was prepared by Miss

11:39

Fulford honor about August

11:41

twenty twelve. The internal Revenue Service

11:44

audited mister Williams twenty ten personal

11:46

tax record and contacted mister Williams

11:49

for additional information.

11:51

She's getting him audited. And it's similar

11:54

to the way Travis Best found out he got

11:56

conned. He got a letter from the IRS that

11:58

he thought Peggy was paying his taxes. Turns

12:00

out she wasn't. I mean, it's identical if

12:02

you recall from season two what

12:05

I don't care for this show.

12:06

I don't really listen to it.

12:10

What Lizzie Mulder was doing to scam

12:13

her victim. She claimed to be paying their taxes,

12:15

and she was just depositing all those checks that were earmark

12:17

for taxes into her own account for years,

12:20

banking that tax no one knew for years.

12:22

The coup de gras was the checking

12:25

account with the name income tax Payments.

12:27

She can just go to Bank of America and open up

12:29

an account called income tax payments.

12:32

Yeah, and they don't. That doesn't raise a red

12:34

flag for them. Yeah, No, that's just bullshit.

12:38

But this is what puzzles me about con artists.

12:41

I don't know the answer. I just see a trend in

12:43

all these cases. How

12:45

do they not know or how do they not care?

12:47

They're going to get caught one day, at

12:49

some point the jig is up.

12:51

Maybe it's just, you know, they

12:53

get away with it. Year one, they're probably

12:56

nervous. Year two, maybe a little

12:58

less nervous. Year after year, getting this money,

13:00

nothing happening to them, they just start to lose

13:02

their fear. Maybe they just become

13:04

more emboldened because they low themselves

13:07

into this kind of false sense of security where

13:09

it's like, oh, I didn't get caught the last ten

13:11

years or whatever six years.

13:13

And they feel confident delivery get caught.

13:16

Maybe remember

13:18

con artist is short for confidence

13:20

artist, because they not only gain

13:23

your confidence to scam you, but they're

13:25

also inordinately confident

13:28

they'll get away with whatever scam they're

13:30

pulling anyway.

13:33

On January tenth, twenty fourteen,

13:36

things take a crazy, freaking

13:38

turn, a chain of whiplash

13:41

inducing events on fold that no

13:43

one sees coming first.

13:46

Nearly one month after Ricky Williams

13:48

and his wife Kristen file a lawsuit

13:50

against Peggy alleging fraud, they

13:53

end up dropping it out of the blue,

13:56

and Peggy breathes a huge

13:59

sigh of relief because she

14:01

appears to be getting away with what

14:03

she's done. Wow,

14:06

Ricky Williams is spending I

14:08

would guess hundreds of thousands of dollars

14:10

on this lawyer to pursue this case,

14:12

not just filing it in Texas, but then

14:15

refiling it in Florida. And

14:17

maybe that's one of the reasons he ultimately dismissed

14:20

is because it's like, I don't have any

14:22

more money to keep trying to get blood from a stone.

14:25

Nothing. Anyone could sue anyone

14:27

for anything, So it's not really a

14:29

big deal when you file a civil lawsuit, but

14:32

it made the local paper in Houston, the Houston

14:34

Chronicle. An

14:36

FBI agent in Houston who

14:39

is a sports fan is reading

14:41

about this Ricky Williams lawsuit and

14:44

it piques his interest, so

14:48

almost he goes rogue because this is

14:50

not an investigation that was officially assigned

14:52

to him. He just starts looking into the case and

14:55

eventually he's convinced that

14:57

Peggy's a major con woman who needs to go

15:00

down. So

15:03

this FBI agent, let's call him

15:05

Agent Karma, actually gets

15:08

the Department of Justice on board, and

15:10

before long, Peggy Fulford is

15:12

the subject of a federal investigation,

15:16

and one by one, every

15:18

victim and every witness to Peggy's

15:20

many scams, gets interviewed

15:23

on record by the FBI,

15:26

including Chantel Cohen.

15:29

The crazy thing about the FBI is

15:31

that when they first came about the

15:33

case, they did not want

15:36

to arrest her with all

15:38

the information me and Kristen gave them. Did

15:40

not want to arrest her because they wanted

15:42

to build a case against her. They watched

15:44

her for a year and a half.

15:46

The FBI gets involved, they

15:49

already have so much evidence against you,

15:51

Like this is not something they make up.

15:53

They've been following you and.

15:55

They have so much stuff. And so when they called me

15:57

and said like the thing that they

15:59

had, I was like on the floor,

16:02

mouth wide open, like wait what I

16:04

missed all that too? So just what I

16:06

know? And then we have

16:08

all that like that that's crazy

16:11

to me.

16:12

What the FBI uncovers is that from

16:14

more than a decade, Peggy Fulford

16:16

has been impersonating a financial

16:18

manager and scamming millions

16:21

and millions of dollars from a bunch

16:23

of different athletes.

16:25

Fulford falsely told victims that she graduated

16:27

from Harvard Law School and Harvard

16:30

Business School.

16:31

My buddy Evan Goldstein, again reading

16:33

filings from the Federal case against

16:36

Peggy Fulford.

16:37

And at various times that she had one

16:40

made millions on Wall Street, two made

16:42

millions by buying and selling hospitals,

16:45

or three made millions on real

16:47

estate in the Bahamas.

16:50

Stories from far away hard

16:53

to prove. That's a red flag. You're

16:55

in the midst of a con.

16:57

Right and who has the patience to look up

17:00

someone else's life?

17:01

No? One. You're going to prove she didn't buy and sell

17:03

a hospital. Yeah, how are you going to do that? Yeah?

17:06

When you meet someone new, when they start telling you stories

17:08

from far away places, yeah, be suspicious.

17:12

On December thirteenth, twenty sixteen,

17:14

three whole years after Ricky Williams

17:16

files a civil lawsuit against Peggy for

17:19

fraud and then drops it, the

17:21

Department of Justice actually

17:23

indicts her and issues

17:25

this press release.

17:27

Peggy Ann Fulford, fifty eight, formerly

17:29

of Houston and now residing in New Orleans,

17:32

is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud,

17:34

interstate transportation of stolen property,

17:37

and money laundering. A

17:39

federal grand jury in Houston returned the eight

17:41

count indictment December thirteenth, twenty

17:43

sixteen, which was unsealed upon

17:45

her arrest.

17:46

Today, what

17:49

I've learned interviewing federal prosecutors

17:52

in the past, is they're

17:54

charging her with these eight counts. They

17:57

could have charged her with one hundred other counts. But

18:00

at some point it's overkill because

18:02

if she's convicted on all eight counts, she's

18:05

going to jail forever. Oh right, Each

18:07

count carries five to ten years for this. You

18:09

know, if you add them all up and she's convicted of all of

18:11

them, it's enough to put her in jail forever.

18:13

But if they want her in jail longer, why

18:15

wouldn't they just do more counts, because then you could be like guilty

18:18

of more accunts. Like let's say they don't find her guilty

18:20

of all the eight counts. Maybe they find she's

18:22

guilty of two of these counts or whatever, and it's just less

18:24

time she has to do.

18:25

Well, here's what I've learned, and this might shock

18:27

you. They don't want her in jail

18:30

at all. By

18:32

that, I mean, based on my experience

18:34

dealing with the Department of Justice and with various

18:37

district attorneys and state attorneys' offices

18:39

across the country, the most

18:41

important thing to any prosecutor,

18:44

especially at the federal level, is

18:46

securing a conviction period.

18:49

That's a win for them, and we all want

18:51

to win, right, especially federal

18:53

prosecutors. And keep in mind,

18:56

all of Peggy's scams are classified

18:58

as white collar crime, and

19:01

the vast majority of white collar

19:03

criminals never see a day

19:05

behind bars. Prosecutors

19:07

know that, so they don't care about

19:10

jail time or no jail time per se.

19:12

They just want a conviction, ideally

19:16

from a guilty plea, because that

19:18

can't be appealed, whereas a conviction

19:20

a trial can be. They

19:23

want her to plead guilty. They

19:25

don't want a trial. Prosecutors

19:28

don't want to prosecute in a trial

19:30

because a trial a is expensive.

19:33

A trial, a federal trial can cost millions

19:35

and millions of dollars. You got to impanel

19:37

a jury and a backup jury. You might

19:39

have to sequester them in a hotel three

19:41

meals a day. It could go on for weeks or months.

19:44

Add to that, what the judge is

19:46

being paid to preside over a trial every

19:49

day for months, what the US attorneys

19:51

are being paid, and what all the expert

19:54

witnesses and forensic accountants

19:56

are being paid, not to mention the dozens

19:59

of federal court house employees like

20:01

the bailiffs and the court reporters.

20:03

It's a lot of money.

20:03

It's uncertain. You have one juror

20:06

who doesn't say guilty. It's a hung jury,

20:09

it's a mistrial. You got to do it again. There

20:11

is such a level of difficulty and uncertainty

20:13

with a trial. Nobody wants a

20:15

trial. Yeah, so how they're writing

20:17

this indictment with just a sliver of

20:20

these crimes. They want to frighten her.

20:23

They want to say, look, we got

20:25

your number, lady, plead

20:27

guilty. If you're convicted on eight

20:30

of these charges, you're going to jail for good. So

20:32

plead. Take a plea. Take a plea, Take

20:34

a plea. That's the parenthetical in

20:37

this whole indictment. Take a plea. They

20:39

want her to take a plee. Not just her, they want every

20:41

criminal to take a plea because a trial is

20:43

a huge time suck and money suck, and they

20:45

could get away. They could be found not guilty

20:47

totally. So that's

20:50

why from counts five to eight, these

20:52

are tiny slivers of time and money. We're

20:54

talking millions and millions of dollars. She still ultimately,

20:57

but they're not accounting for all of that. Here,

21:00

give me like a Cliff's notes, and

21:02

you won't believe where Peggy's living

21:05

when federal agents go searching

21:07

for her right after this break.

21:16

Welcome back to Queen of the Cohn.

21:19

At this point in twenty sixteen, all

21:22

the athletes Peggy was managing the finances

21:24

for have cut ties with her, and

21:26

she's hit hard times. Gone

21:29

is her Fort Lauderdale mansion and luxury

21:31

cars. She's short on cash

21:33

now and living in an old

21:36

apartment building in New Orleans, dealing

21:39

with noisy neighbors, air

21:41

condition problems, and cockroaches.

21:52

And when federal agents from the FBI

21:55

knock on Peggy's door on December

21:57

thirteenth, twenty sixteen, they

22:00

arrest her and get her into handcuffs,

22:03

and then they start looking

22:05

around her place and

22:07

they immediately notice a

22:10

check on her nightstand for

22:12

nearly two hundred thousand dollars.

22:16

Apparently Peggy's got another scam

22:18

cooking. She tricked a local

22:21

doctor into believing she bought

22:23

a shuttered high school in the Lower ninth

22:25

Ward of New Orleans and was in the

22:27

process of renovating it and planning

22:30

to reopen it as a retirement

22:32

home and make millions of dollars

22:34

in profits. The only problem

22:36

is none of that's true. According

22:39

to authorities.

22:40

In New Orleans, this doctor invested

22:42

many thousands of dollars one hundred and ninety seven thousand

22:44

dollars to be accurate in that particular

22:46

project known as a Holy Cross project, and

22:49

as it turned out upon investigation, the property

22:51

was not for sale.

22:53

Luckily, that unsuspecting doctor

22:56

got his check back in the nick

22:58

of time.

22:59

If the New Orleans I had arrested her one day later,

23:01

that money would have been deposited, that

23:04

money would have been gone.

23:06

But sadly, Peggy did get away

23:08

with stealing the other check he gave

23:10

her for one hundred and seventy four

23:13

thousand dollars weeks before

23:16

cops come in. You have a check sitting on your

23:19

nightstand, like, what is going on? Chantelle

23:22

Cohen again?

23:23

But that shows you that she has to catch back

23:25

up. So she's going to figure out a way

23:27

to do whatever she's been doing

23:29

this whole time to get back to the

23:32

fancy life as she loves to live. So that's

23:34

what I'm nervous about of whoever her

23:36

next victim is.

23:38

And the US attorney prosecuting Peggy

23:41

for the Southern District of Texas knows

23:43

that now more.

23:44

Than ever, Peggy Fulford

23:47

is a financial predator. She looks for

23:49

prey. She's looking for someone that she can ingratiate

23:51

herself with, earn their trust,

23:54

and steal their money.

23:58

For more than a year, from late

24:00

twenty sixteen to early twenty eighteen,

24:03

the federal case against Peggy

24:05

Fulford makes its way through the

24:07

crowded criminal justice system.

24:10

In the meantime, Peggy is free

24:12

on bond awaiting federal trial,

24:15

and she pleads not guilty to all

24:18

eight counts against her. She

24:20

says she can't afford to hire a

24:22

lawyer now, so she requests

24:24

a public defender who she doesn't

24:26

have to pay anything to. And Peggy

24:29

seems to really want to go to trial

24:31

at first. But here's

24:34

the thing about federal cases

24:36

that go to trial. The vast

24:38

majority of them, nearly one hundred

24:41

percent, end with a conviction,

24:44

and a scammer convicted at

24:46

trial is usually sentenced to

24:48

way more prison time than a

24:50

scammer who throws prosecutors

24:52

a bone and takes a plea deal. Actually,

24:55

in a lot of those cases, if there's no violent

24:58

criminal history, the scammer can

25:00

usually get off with just probation

25:03

and no prison time or very little

25:05

prison time. And that's exactly

25:07

what Peggy's public defender explains

25:10

to her. So Peggy changes

25:13

her mind, and

25:16

on February first, twenty eighteen,

25:19

she agrees to plead guilty

25:21

to just one count, interstate

25:24

transportation of stolen property.

25:27

At this point, it's entirely

25:29

possible that Peggy could walk away

25:31

with zero prison time. But

25:34

suddenly something unforeseen

25:37

happens that shocks the living

25:39

hell out of the federal prosecutor.

25:42

I was busy and we were preparing for the sentencing

25:45

the next day, and I got a message on my

25:47

voicemail at work.

25:49

That voicemail is from an engineer named

25:52

Ray Thompson. Hi, my name is Ray

25:54

Thompson, who says Peggy just scanned

25:57

him in the days after pleading guilty

25:59

to scan all those other people. And

26:02

Engineer Ray Thompson is mad

26:04

as hell.

26:05

I'm so upset.

26:07

He'd been working in Saudi Arabia to

26:09

rebuild his life because he had lost everything

26:11

after Katrina, and she convinced

26:13

him that for a twenty five thousand dollars

26:16

investment they were going to make a lot

26:18

of money together. That I

26:21

think really was the nail in the

26:23

coffin about whether she was going to stop or

26:25

not, and.

26:26

It certainly doesn't inspire the federal

26:28

judge who's about to sentence Peggy

26:31

to let her off with probation. The

26:34

other crazy scam that emerges before

26:36

Peggy's sentencing hearing is that she

26:38

actually stole someone's social

26:40

Security number and used

26:42

it to fraudulently file for

26:45

bankruptcy in an attempt to hang

26:47

on to the Florida real estate she owns that

26:49

corresponds to her real social

26:51

Security number. So during

26:54

Peggy's sentencing hearing, prosecutors

26:56

planned to make a case to the judge to give

26:58

her the maximum ten

27:01

years behind bars.

27:03

We were ready to stop her because we knew

27:05

that she was probably out victimizing

27:07

people every day.

27:12

It's November seventh, twenty eighteen,

27:15

and Peggy's sentencing hearing is now

27:17

in session. Three of

27:19

her victims suddenly show up

27:21

in the courtroom and they desperately

27:24

want to talk to the judge.

27:28

The first one to speak is Kristen

27:31

Williams.

27:32

Thank you very much for giving

27:35

me the time and opportunity to

27:37

speak at this hearing today. Please

27:40

know that I am speaking on behalf of myself

27:42

as well as my former husband, Ricky

27:45

Williams, who is not able to be here.

27:49

Former husband Wow.

27:52

The sad truth of the matter is, after

27:54

getting scammed by Peggy out

27:56

of millions and millions of dollars, Ricky

27:59

Williams and Kristin are now

28:02

divorced, but they appear

28:04

to be on good terms. As Kristin explains

28:06

to the judge why Ricky can't be here today,

28:10

he.

28:10

Is in the middle of midterm exams and working

28:12

in California. He had

28:14

to start a second career after losing

28:17

every dollar he earned playing football

28:19

in the NFL for twelve years

28:22

to Peggy. Although

28:24

I've had lots of time to prepare for this, I was

28:26

never quite sure how to put everything

28:28

I would want you to know about Peggy and

28:31

the turmoil and hardship she

28:33

has caused in our lives into

28:35

words. I

28:37

thought perhaps I could start with

28:39

December one, twenty thirteen, when

28:42

I discovered that not only was

28:44

there not enough money for me to go

28:46

to the grocery store in my checking

28:48

account, but that nearly ten million

28:51

dollars that my husband had worked so hard

28:53

to save for our family was all gone.

28:57

Or maybe the.

28:58

Day I discovered that we had thirty days

29:00

to prove my husband's innocence to the

29:03

irs. You

29:05

see, Peggy had received a fraudulent three

29:07

hundred and thirty four thousand dollars tax refund

29:10

in his name and deposited it into

29:12

one of her more than eighty five bank

29:14

accounts and promptly spent

29:17

it. We have since

29:19

discovered that that sort of thing was actually

29:21

easy for her to do, because she would

29:23

use her driver's license that had the last

29:26

name Williams on it and just pretend

29:28

to be Ricky's wife.

29:33

When Kristen finishes speaking, what

29:35

happens next in the courtroom stuns

29:38

me. The judge seems

29:40

to push back on Kristin Williams.

29:44

You're obviously an intelligent woman, and I'm

29:46

sure your husband had access to advice and counsel

29:48

from the National Football League. Wasn't

29:50

she an unlikely choice to manage money or

29:52

manage investments?

29:55

No, Peggy

29:58

claimed to be a Harvard edge kated

30:00

attorney. She had made up

30:02

pleques on her walls. She supposedly

30:05

had an NBA from Harvard.

30:08

Her third husband, Force King. She told

30:11

everyone everyone that they

30:13

started the first HMO in the country.

30:15

That he retired from practicing

30:17

medicine because he had made so much money

30:20

with his investments that everyone

30:22

flocked to them. She claimed

30:25

to be able to give us all generational

30:27

wealth to take care of our families, and

30:31

she had the highest friends

30:33

in the highest places.

30:36

She had an extreme amount

30:38

of money. It appeared she

30:40

drove fancy cars, she

30:42

looked like and acted like she was all

30:45

of these things. She hung out

30:47

with well known attorneys. I mean, it was just,

30:49

I mean, I don't have enough time

30:51

to sit here and tell you all of the things.

30:58

Next up to speak is a woman named Rebecca

31:01

Hilliard, the wife of NFL player

31:03

Lex Hilliard. Peggy scammed

31:05

them both out of one hundred and thirty two thousand

31:08

dollars and then continued

31:10

scamming them even after they confronted

31:13

her.

31:13

A year or so after we fired her, she

31:16

started up another account in both of our names,

31:18

signed Lex's name, and put power of attorney,

31:20

which she did not have, and

31:23

then she filed our taxes in Montana,

31:25

in Minnesota, and Florida and got

31:27

three different tax refunds in our names.

31:31

And as insane as that

31:33

is, it's not quite as insane as

31:35

Peggy scamming sixty four year

31:38

old Ray Thompson while she was

31:40

out on bond after actually

31:42

pleading guilty to scamming everyone else.

31:46

Now it's raised her to take the stand

31:48

and tell the judge how Peggy tricked

31:50

him out of twenty five thousand dollars,

31:53

claiming she had a profitable medical

31:55

management business in Phoenix and

31:57

was going to give Ray a huge return

32:00

on his investment. Oh and she

32:02

told Ray her name was Peggy

32:05

Jones. I imagine just

32:07

in case Ray ever googled her real name

32:09

and found news reports about her recent FBI

32:12

arvest and federal indictment.

32:14

So I gave her money, a total of twenty five

32:16

thousand dollars cash.

32:18

I trusted her, and.

32:19

Even to know that her name wasn't even Peggy

32:21

Jones, it just seemed like deceit

32:23

from the beginning.

32:27

Now it's up to the judge.

32:32

But before he issues Peggy's

32:34

sentence, is

32:36

there anything else you would like to say?

32:38

News Walford, Yes,

32:40

your honor, please

32:42

go ahead.

32:44

And the stuff Peggy is about

32:46

to tell this judge. You're gonna

32:48

think I'm making up, but I

32:50

promise you every word is

32:52

true.

32:54

You seem like you have so many skills,

32:56

so much experience. Why was it necessary

32:58

to do this. Was it simply shortage of cash?

33:02

No, your honor, Can I explain something.

33:11

Next time on Queen of the Khan.

33:14

They know where the money went. That's

33:16

what I will tell you is they definitely

33:19

know where the money went.

33:20

Peggy tries to play a federal judge.

33:23

I know they painted a really ugly picture,

33:26

but I was actually married to an anesthesiologist

33:29

during that time. I was married to an orthodontist.

33:32

Those cars a Roseworth.

33:34

Ghost and all of that that was not

33:36

in my name, That was in their

33:38

names, Amasarati, that was

33:40

in their names.

33:42

All I'm saying, your Honor.

33:43

Is that I was married to people who

33:45

also made money.

33:47

But will the judge fall for her

33:50

charm offensive?

33:51

I appreciate your candor, I really do. Thank

33:53

you very much.

33:55

You're welcome, your honor.

34:00

If you're enjoying Queen of the Con, leave us

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34:18

of the Cohn The Athlete Whisperer is a production

34:21

of AYR Media and iHeartMedia,

34:23

hosted by me Jonathan Walton Executive

34:26

producers Jonathan Walton for Jonathan

34:28

Walton Productions and Elisa Rosen

34:31

for AYR Media. Consulting

34:33

producer Evan Goldstein, consulting

34:36

producer, Trace Shean. Written

34:39

by Jonathan Walton, Sound design

34:41

by Zach Hirsch, Edited

34:43

and mixed by Zach Hirsch, Audio

34:46

engineer Justin Longerbean, audio

34:48

engineer Chris Desmond, studio

34:51

engineer Graham Gibson. Mastered

34:54

by Justin Longerbean Legal

34:56

counsel for AYR Media. Johnny Douglas,

35:00

executive producer for iHeartMedia. Maya

35:02

Howard Voice acting by

35:05

Darnell Baldwin, Tyree

35:07

Saxton, Junior Courtney,

35:09

Hettrick Milan, Faxis,

35:12

Jorge Farragut, David Teitelbaum,

35:15

Terina Pouncey, Kim Ganier,

35:18

Stuart Chait, Teresa Prindle.

35:24

Statements from press reports, public interviews,

35:26

and from court records were dramatized verbatim

35:28

on this season of Queen of the Khan, b

35:31

E t's American Gangster Trap, Queens,

35:33

TNTs Rich and Shameless, CNBC's

35:36

American Greed, The Guardian, Sports,

35:39

Illustrated, The Times, Picky June,

35:41

The Opportunist Podcast, victim

35:43

interviews and Countless court records

35:45

were the sources used on this season

35:47

of Queen of the Khan