Woman gets prison time for $5.5M check fraud

A former Alpharetta, Ga., resident was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in federal prison on a bank fraud charge in connection with a massive check kiting scheme that bilked some $5.5 million from more than a half a dozen metro Atlanta financial institutions. Kimberly Williams, 36, who now lives in Gary, Ind., pleaded guilty in February. Beginning in August 2005 and continuing until about January 2008, Williams ran a scheme to defraud several Atlanta financial institutions through an activity known as "check kiting”. Williams deposited non-sufficient funds and closed account checks into the newly opened accounts, quickly withdrawing funds or writing other checks before the banks discovered that the deposited checks would not be honored. In total, she wrote and deposited $5,584,009 worth of checks. Posted in: Check Fraud