FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — According to an arrest record acquired by Local 10 News on Thursday, a 52-year-old woman is suspected of stealing millions from former Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones over a two-year period, with the assistance of a former Merrill Lynch financial advisor.
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Isaiah Williams, Jones’ financial advisor from January 2022 to March 2024, reportedly misused his access to the athlete’s personal bank account by stealing almost $1.58 million in 133 wire transactions to settle two of his American Express credit cards, according to Fort Lauderdale police.
Williams’ extravagant lifestyle, which included first-class airline tickets, hotel stays with several women, nightclub tabs, strip clubs, car rentals, fashionable clothing, jewelry, legal expenses, and even child support, was financed by Jones’ money, according to court documents.
Williams also went on duty-free shopping sprees in Mexico, according to the police.
According to officials, however, the crimes did not end there.
Jones, 37, of Plantation, claimed investigators he had never met Octavia Monique Graham of Dallas, Georgia, who helped launder an additional $1.03 million from Jones’ account, according to detectives.
According to the report, 16 handwritten checks totaling approximately $435,000 were taken out of Graham’s account and transferred into Williams Chase’s bank account between October 2019 and September 2021.
Authorities also claimed that 88 Zelle payments from Graham’s Bank of America account to Williams totaled almost $184,000.
According to authorities, Jones’ losses totaled about $2.58 million. Detectives were informed by the former Dolphins safety that he intends filing charges.
After turning herself in on Monday, Graham is charged with two charges of money laundering and one count of first-degree grand theft, according to jail records.
A judge set Graham’s bond at $75,000 when she appeared in a Broward courtroom on Friday. Additionally, she was told not to get in touch with Jones and Williams. She is still being held at the Paul Rein Detention Center.
Graham’s arraignment is set for July 7 at 9 a.m.
According to court documents, Williams had not yet been taken into custody for the alleged offenses.
Williams was recently barred from the securities business due to significant misconduct charges, according to data from the Financial business Regulatory Authority, in addition to the criminal probe.
Williams left Merrill Lynch in December 2024 amid claims of theft, inappropriate asset allocation, false representations, and improper outside business activities, according to hisBrokerCheck report.
The same claims were echoed in that story, which also claimed that an investor filed a complaint against him the same month.
Jones’ lawyers, Jeff Sonn of Sonn Law Group and Chase Carlson of Carlson Law, issued the following statement to Local 10 News on Friday in response to the case:
This is yet another alarming instance of a professional athlete being taken advantage of by a company he trusted to handle his finances. The offender in this instance was a vice president at Merrill Lynch, the investment management arm of Bank of America, one of the biggest financial firms in the world. To hold Merrill Lynch liable, we have launched legal action, and we are attempting to recoup all of the losses our client has endured.
You can read the statement that a Bank of America representative gave to Local 10 News confirming that Williams is no longer employed at Merrill Lynch here:
When we become aware of possible misconduct, we look into it right away, work closely with law enforcement and regulators, and work with the client to make up for any harm an employee may have caused. Since our establishment over a century ago, Merrill has operated under the tenets of prioritizing our clients and safeguarding their assets.
Editor’s note: The age of the suspect has been corrected in this story.
