Woman Pleads Guilty in $7.1 Million Money Laundering Scheme

A Delaware County woman has admitted her role in a scheme that allegedly helped move more than $7 million in fraud proceeds through sham business accounts tied to pandemic relief fraud and other email scams, according to federal prosecutors.

Christina Williams, 31, of Drexel Hill, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Joshua D. Wolson accepted the plea. Williams now faces up to 20 years in prison at her sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 9.

Prosecutors said Williams worked with her mother, Rosemarie Dixon, who was identified in court records as “Person 1,” to hide the source of money tied to fraudulent Economic Injury, Disaster Loan Applications, and business email compromise scams.

Authorities said the group laundered $7,171,730 between January 2020 and April 2021 by moving money to a network of bank accounts opened in the names of Shell companies.

According to court filings, Williams helped create a company called Williams Royal Real Estate, LLC, in New Jersey in March 2020. Prosecutors said the business existed only on paper and had no employees or operations.

Using the company's registration documents, Williams opened several business bank accounts at financial institutions in the Philadelphia area, investigators said.

Federal prosecutors said fraudulent Small Business Administration loan funds were later deposited into those accounts. The loans were tied to false applications submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors said another company, Dixon Delish Kitchen LLC, was later created and registered in New Jersey. Authorities allege the business was also fraudulent and was used to open additional bank accounts that received proceeds from business email compromise schemes.

Investigators said Christina Williams rapidly moved money between business and personal accounts, as well as accounts controlled by other alleged members of the conspiracy, in an effort to conceal the source of the funds.

“With the permission of Person 1, Williams also kept some of the fraudulently obtained funds, spent them on herself, and converted them to cash,” prosecutors stated in court filings.

Dixon, 54, pleaded guilty last month to the same conspiracy charge and is also scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 9. She faces the same maximum penalty as her daughter, including three years of supervised release and a possible fine of up to $14.3 million.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, the United States Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nancy E. Potts and S. Chandler Harris are prosecuting the case. Meanwhile, David Metcalf announced Christina Williams’s guilty plea following the hearing in federal court in Philadelphia.