Woman sentenced to prison after ‘Tom Hardy’ church fraud scheme

Williams’ attorney said she passed along most of the money to an individual she believed to be Tom Hardy, star of the blockbuster Venom franchise.

A woman in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to prison for bank fraud and money laundering, in a scheme that included tricking a Catholic church into wiring $466,000 to a shell corporation.

The woman’s attorney argued that she was the victim of a romantic scheme, believing herself to be in an online relationship with British actor Tom Hardy, and carrying out fraudulent activities at the request of a scam artist posing online as Hardy.

But a retired IRS investigator said the case highlights the dangers of churches and other organizations “ignoring basic internal controls in fiscal matters.”

St. Ludmila Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Credit: Facebook.

Margo Ann Williams, 63, was sentenced this week to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $594,037.41 in restitution to her victims.

Williams, an accountant and adjunct business instructor, was found guilty in September of laundering more than $800,000 in proceeds from an email scheme from December 2022 to July 2023.

The court found that she defrauded two businesses, a non-profit organization, an individual, and St. Ludmila Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

St. Ludmila was undergoing a multi-million dollar campus renovation at the time of the scam. According to trial evidence, the email address for the project’s general contractor was hacked. The church then received a fraudulent email from what appeared to be the general contractor, requesting that a payment in progress be rerouted over to a new bank account, which was controlled by Williams.

Williams’ attorney said she passed along most of the money to an individual she believed to be Hardy, star of the blockbuster Venom superhero films, among other movies.

Williams kept about $25,000 of the money, and made several purchases with it. She said she was told to keep the money to treat herself.

During the trial, Williams said that she initially met a person on an online word game, and the two started chatting, first in the game’s chat app and later on Zoom — though seemingly without the video feature.

After a few weeks, their conversations moved from friendly banter into more personal discussions about family members and hobbies such as cooking and gardening.

Williams said the man told her he was actor Tom Hardy and sent her a selfie that appeared to be Tom Hardy. The photo did not show up in an online reverse image search as being available elsewhere on the internet, she said, leading her to believe it was authentic.

Tom Hardy at the UK Premiere of "Venom: The Last Dance.” Credit: Alamy.

After a few months, the relationship turned romantic, she said, and the pair discussed going on vacation together or even buying a house together.

He also began asking her for money, saying he was having trouble with his business and his accounts were frozen because of his divorce, and sending her documents showing that he was behind on a business loan, she said.

Williams said he asked her to help him get money owed to him through investments. She said she created LLCs when he asked her to, opened bank accounts on his behalf, and transferred the paid money according to his instructions, but did not realize she was involved in a scam.

The sentencing guidelines for Williams’ eight convictions recommended 108-135 months of incarceration.

However, she was sentenced to 48 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.

The defense had argued in favor of a lighter sentence for Williams, saying that she had no record of prior criminal activity, had little likelihood of reoffending, and had suffered past traumas and mental health challenges that had primed her to become a victim to the false Hardy.

Forensic accountant Robert Warren, an associate professor of accounting at Radford University and a retired IRS investigator, said the situation “highlights the dangers of emotionally vulnerable people meeting potential romantic partners on the internet.”

“What is doubly strange is that Ms. Williams holds a master’s degree in accounting and has years of professional experience, so she might have spotted this scheme a mile away,” Warren told The Pillar — though he also noted that Williams presented in court a series of mental health challenges, which might have made her more susceptible to being scammed.

“The architectural company that was hacked also shares some of the blame. They should have in place sufficient information technology controls and safeguards to prevent, deter, detect, and isolate the very cyber intrusions that resulted in the loss of over $800,000 to their clients,” he added.

Warren, who has extensively researched church-related financial crime, said that while St. Ludmila’s parish was a victim in this situation, there were also steps it could have taken to prevent being defrauded.

“First, the parish could have established a vendor file, which would contact the name, address, contact information, and payment instructions,” he said. “If the parish had done so, they would have at least sent the fraudulent payment to the right company and account, which would have notified both parties that there was a problem, and the payment could have been preserved for a future obligation or returned.”

“Second, since the payment was so large, a member of the parish staff could have called the company to verify the payment details,” he added. “Third, the parish could have required the vendor to pick up the check in person and sign for its receipt. Any one of these steps may have prevented the theft.”

Warren has previously stressed the importance of parishes establishing and following internal controls to prevent financial crimes.

Parishes in Florida, Missouri, New York, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts are among those which have been victims of financial crimes in recent years.