The Athlete Whisperer: Ep. 5, Deceit from the Very Beginning
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Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, the host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America.

Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I am Lacey Lamar. And I'm also Lacey Lamar. Just kidding. I'm Amber Reffin. What? Okay, everybody, we have exciting news to share. We're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. This season, we make new friends, deep dive into my steamy DMs, and we'll be right back.

answer your listener questions and more the more is punch each other listen to the amber and lacy lacy and amber show on will ferrell's big money players network on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts just listen okay or lacy gets it do it

Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Previously on Queen of the Con. She infiltrated my life. She became my best friend. In her exact words, I was the sister that she never had.

Kristen Williams, the wife of NFL running back Ricky Williams, starts unraveling financial manager Peggy Fulford's massive multi-million dollar fraud. We realized that we're paying for Peggy's lavish lifestyle. The Bentley, Rolls Royce, the Range Rovers, all of her homes.

The only problem is Kristen's husband, Ricky Williams, refuses to believe it. Peggy's got him snowed with her Oscar-worthy performances. She's like bawling, crying. She's like, I hope you don't believe this. Like, I would never do this to Ricky. And she's like saying all this stuff, and I'm just like...

I don't believe you. And what did Ricky get from her? He got from her that she put his money in stocks and bonds, like his money is spread out. So in his mind, he's thinking, okay, let's give her time. And Ricky gives Peggy plenty of time, but he never sees any of his money ever again.

And it's the beginning of the end of Peggy Fulford's many scams. But the crazy, unbelievable drama is just getting started. I shouted out loud when I saw that. I literally said, I said, no fucking way, is what I said. I'm Jonathan Walton, and this is Queen of the Con, The Athlete Whisperer, Episode 5, Deceit from the Very Beginning.

Once it all happened with the IRS, because Kristen, I was one of the first people that she called once the IRS called them and said how much they owe and blah, blah, blah. That's Chantel Cohen again, Ricky Williams' lifelong friend. Peggy had successfully driven a wedge between Ricky's wife, Kristen, and Chantel. But now both of them are finally talking and they have a lot to say.

We sat on the phone for hours of just thinking of all these stories and things she said to us and just all the way down to how she played Kristen and I against each other to where I didn't think Kristen liked me. She didn't think that I liked her to where we wouldn't talk.

so she kept you guys separated. She kept us separate so she could do whatever she needed to do over in that household. And I was over here because I said to Kristen months into them hiring Peggy, and I said, make sure that she gives you like an atomized thing of what she's paying monthly for you guys. So you know exactly where your money's going. Maybe it's something that she puts in the refrigerator or she just stops by and drops it off at you guys.

you should know where your money's going. Like, even though she's giving you guys that allowance, like, you should know where your money's going. I don't know if Kristen mentioned it to Peggy,

I'm guessing she did, and that's one of the reasons Peggy made sure Kristen and Chantel never spoke again. But now, Peggy's lies are laid bare, out in the open for everyone to see. Because even with Dennis Rodman, he didn't want to come out and say anything. I know. His person was one of my good friends, so we talked about it, and I was like, no, you have to tell Dennis. Like, he's on a trip with her son.

That's right. Remember Elkin? "My responsibilities were to like completely run Dennis." Peggy convinced Dennis Rodman that Elkin was her brother, when in reality, he's her son. And at this point in 2013, Elkin is with Dennis Rodman in North Korea.

while Chantel and Kristen are realizing Peggy is a con artist. And Chantel is urging Dennis' assistant over the phone to tell Dennis Rodman ASAP. Like, you have to let him know what's going on with us.

And so that person had to talk with Dennis and Dennis was like, I don't want to deal with it. Then we have to get lawyers involved, blah, blah, blah. But then it was like, the more stuff started coming out, then you, there's no way for you to not deal with it, you know, at the end of the day. So he had to deal with it and it all came out.

And by this point, Ricky Williams finally sees the truth about Peggy. And on December 16th, 2013, six years after hiring Peggy to manage their finances, he and his wife Kristen file a lawsuit in Houston against Peggy, accusing her of fraud.

Plaintiffs Ricky and Kristen Williams, collectively plaintiffs, filed this verified complaint and application for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

My buddy Evan Goldstein and I are examining all the legal filings in that lawsuit. It took me weeks to dig up all these court records and then figure out who all the court reporters were and make formal requests for transcripts and audio recordings. But my God, these filings tell one hell of a story.

In 2007, Mr. Williams engaged Ms. Fulford and King Management, collectively defendants, to manage all of his finances and investments. So this is two years before Dennis Rodman signs on. Dennis Rodman signs on, hires Peggy in 2009. Ricky Williams is two years earlier in 2007. Yeah, and she kind of met Dennis Rodman because Ricky Williams was opening a restaurant, right? That was kind of her way in with Rodman. One led to the other. It's like a chess game for her.

And while we're talking about Ricky Williams' restaurant, the one on South Beach called Proof, it actually ended up closing. And according to Ricky's business partner, a credit card machine in that restaurant was secretly swapped out for another credit card machine that allegedly fed directly into a bank account controlled by Peggy. And we had to shut down Proof because allegedly she was stealing money from Proof.

And Chantel Cohen watched it all happen without realizing what she was actually witnessing until years later. I was like cleaning my house a few years ago and I found postcards that she would send me from like China, Paris. Like, I'm like, was this on Dennis's dime, Ricky's dime? Like, who was treating me to these trips?

And I've seen multiple cars, big houses, just like all this stuff. And I'm just like, when you came into this, how much money did you actually have? Like, how much was actually your money before you started doing X, Y, and Z with all these people? I don't think any of it was her money. No. Ever. As for Ricky Williams' lawsuit, Ms. Fulford may be served at 2841 Northeast 35th Court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida,

Now that's a hell of a house she's living in in Fort Lauderdale. Is it like a mansion? Yes, it's a mansion on the Intracoastal waterfront.

Those are super nice. She's got BMWs and Bentleys in the driveway. She is a baller in every sense of the word. When I was a kid, I went down the intercoastal waterway on a tour. And they're like, oh, there's Madonna's house. It's just very, very well-to-do, very big, giant houses. And they all have their kind of docks in the back with their little dinghies and boats. It's upper crust. And it's a million-dollar lifestyle that she's using Ricky Williams' money.

to furnish. Yeah, that's a hell of an address. And I'm posting pictures of that address, Peggy's $3.6 million Fort Lauderdale mansion, inside and outside, front and back, at Queen of the Con on Instagram, so you can see for yourself one of the opulent smoke screens Peggy used to trick victims into thinking she was a multi-millionaire investing whiz.

Between 2007 and 2012, Mr. Williams earned income of approximately $11 million. So it's like $2 million plus a year. That's the money he's making, and that's the money she has access to. On or about August 15, 2008, Ms. Fulford and Mr. Williams established a joint checking account at SunTrust Bank in Orlando, Florida.

Without the knowledge or permission of plaintiffs, Ms. Fulford received and used a debit card for the joint account. Plaintiffs were never provided a debit card for the joint account. So this is like her funny money fund. Yeah, she gets a debit card for their account and doesn't give them a debit card. Yeah, it's just like straight to the Fendi bags and stuff. After opening the joint account, Ms. Fulford established at least six other accounts at SunTrust Bank under several different names, including King Management. So she's just like moving this around.

In the end though, court records show Peggy actually opened 85 different bank accounts that she used to steal from her clients, including Ricky Williams. Between opening the joint account in August 2012, approximately $6 million was transferred via account transfers, wire transfers, check card debits, written checks, or cash withdrawals out of the joint account by Ms. Fulford without plaintiff's authorization or knowledge.

Six million dollars she's moving around like that seems like such an oversight. How did they not miss that like six million dollars? Well, here's why because she pitched them as this financial guru who's gonna put them on a strict budget Invest the excess of their money and create what she kept calling generational wealth for their kids So it's like they believe her they say this money's not liquid. Anyway, she's investing It's not like they could just pull it out of the stock market or whatever money market whatever she's doing

says she's doing. They're not missing it because they think she's investing in some place. She's building wealth with it. Right. Just leave it there. Don't touch it. This is for your kids and your kids' kids. Let it ride. Yep. But the craziest part of this whole lawsuit is after the break. We'll be right back.

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Stories about regaining a sense of safety, a handle on reality after your entire world is flipped upside down.

From unbelievable romantic betrayals. The love that was so real for me was always just a game for him. To betrayals in your own family. When I think about my dad, oh, well, he is a sociopath. Financial betrayal. This is not even the part where he steals millions of dollars. And life or death deceptions. She's practicing how she's going to cry when the police calls her after they kill me.

Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask.

I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs. From the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy.

So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition?

Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions.

Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all-new podcast, There and Gone.

It's a real-life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck, and vanished. Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident? Or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son, and in your eyes, he's innocent.

But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There and Gone.

Welcome back to Queen of the Con. My buddy Evan and I are going through the Ricky and Kristen Williams lawsuit accusing Peggy of fraud page by page. On or about September 2013, Ms. Fulford ceased all communications with Ms. Williams. So it's kind of like years go by, what's going on with our money? And then basically...

By 2013, she's like, okay, bye. I got to go. She ghosted them. She totally ghosted them. She ghosted them and she ghosted Dennis Rodman's people and she ghosted Rashad McCants' people. This is her thing. When she gets found out, she ghosts and she's on to the next. But here's what's different. Travis Best kept it quiet. Rashad McCants kept it quiet. Ricky Williams' wife is pissed.

One question is like, would she have gotten away with this had Ricky Williams' wife not have been pressing her? You know, if it was just Ricky Williams. Yeah, she just scammed another day for sure. Maybe she would have got away with it. It was the wife. It was the wife. Yeah, by all accounts, she was the catalyst to take her down. Evan continues reading from the lawsuit. Mr. Williams' 2010 personal income tax return was prepared by Ms. Fulford.

On or about August 2012, the Internal Revenue Service audited Mr. Williams' 2010 personal tax record and contacted Mr. Williams for additional information. She's getting him audited. And it's similar to the way Travis Best found out he got conned. He got a letter from the IRS that he thought Peggy was paying his taxes. Turns out she wasn't. I mean, it's identical, if you recall from season two, what... I don't care for this show. I don't really listen to it.

what Lizzie Mulder was doing to scam her victims. She claimed to be paying their taxes and she was just depositing all those checks that were earmarked for taxes into her own account for years. Just banking that tax money. No one knew for years. The coup de grace was the checking account with the name income tax payments. She can just go to Bank of America and open up an account called income tax payments. Yeah. And they don't, that doesn't raise a red flag for them. Yeah, no, that's just bullshit.

Maybe it's just

You know, they get away with it. Year one, they're probably nervous. Year two, maybe a little less nervous. Year after year, getting this money, nothing happening to them. They just start to lose their fear. Maybe they just become more emboldened because they lull themselves into this kind of false sense of security where it's like, oh, I didn't get caught the last 10 years or whatever, six years. And they feel confident they'll never get caught. Maybe. Maybe.

Remember, con artist is short for confidence artist because they not only gain your confidence to scam you, but they're also inordinately confident they'll get away with whatever scam they're pulling. Anyway, on January 10th, 2014, things take a crazy freaking turn. A chain of whiplash-inducing events unfold that no one sees coming.

First, nearly one month after Ricky Williams and his wife, Kristen, file a lawsuit against Peggy, alleging fraud, they end up dropping it out of the blue. And Peggy breathes a huge sigh of relief because she appears to be getting away with what she's done. Wow. Ricky Williams is spending...

I would guess hundreds of thousands of dollars on this lawyer to pursue this case, not just filing it in Texas, but then refiling it in Florida. And maybe that's one of the reasons he ultimately dismissed is because it's like, I don't have any more money to keep trying to get blood from a stone because I'm not going to get nothing. Anyone could sue anyone for anything. So it's not really a big deal when you file a civil lawsuit, but it made the local paper in Houston, the Houston Chronicle.

An FBI agent in Houston, who is a sports fan, is reading about this Ricky Williams lawsuit, and it piques his interest. So almost he goes rogue because this is not an investigation that was officially assigned to him. He just starts looking into the case. And eventually, he's convinced that Peggy's a major con woman who needs to go down.

So this FBI agent, let's call him Agent Karma, actually gets the Department of Justice on board. And before long, Peggy Fulford is the subject of a federal investigation. And one by one, every victim and every witness to Peggy's many scams gets interviewed on record by the FBI, including Chantel Cohen.

The crazy thing about the FBI is that when they first came about the case, they did not want to arrest her with all the information me and Kristen gave them. Did not want to arrest her because they wanted to build a case against her. They watched her for a year and a half. If the FBI gets involved, they already have so much evidence against you. Like, this is not something they make up. They've been following you.

And they have so much stuff. And so when they called me and said like things that they had, I was like on the floor, mouth wide open, like, wait, what? I missed all that too. So just what I know. And then we have all that, like that, that's crazy to me.

What the FBI uncovers is that for more than a decade, Peggy Fulford has been impersonating a financial manager and scamming millions and millions of dollars from a bunch of different athletes. Fulford falsely told victims that she graduated from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. My buddy, Evan Goldstein, again, reading filings from the federal case against Peggy Fulford.

And at various times that she had, one, made millions on Wall Street, two, made millions by buying and selling hospitals, or three, made millions on real estate in the Bahamas. Stories from far away, hard to prove, that's a red flag, you're in the midst of a con. Right, and who has the patience to look up someone else's life? No one. You're going to prove she didn't buy and sell a hospital? Yeah. How are you going to do that? Yeah.

When you meet someone new and they start telling you stories from far away places, be suspicious. Yeah.

On December 13th, 2016, three whole years after Ricky Williams files a civil lawsuit against Peggy for fraud and then drops it, the Department of Justice actually indicts her and issues this press release. Peggy Ann Fulford, 58, formerly of Houston and now residing in New Orleans, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering.

A federal grand jury in Houston returned the eight-count indictment December 13, 2016, which was unsealed upon her arrest today.

What I've learned interviewing federal prosecutors in the past is they're charging her with these eight counts. They could have charged her with 100 other counts. But at some point, it's overkill because if she's convicted on all eight counts, she's going to jail forever. Oh, really? Each count carries five to 10 years for this. You know, if you add them all up and she's convicted of all of them, it's enough to put her in jail forever. But if they want her in jail longer...

Why wouldn't they just do more counts? Because then you could be guilty of more counts. Let's say they don't find her guilty of all the eight counts. Maybe they find she's guilty of two of these counts or whatever, and it's just less time she has to do. Well, here's what I've learned, and this might shock you. They don't want her in jail at all.

By that I mean, based on my experience dealing with the Department of Justice and with various district attorneys and state attorneys offices across the country, the most important thing to any prosecutor, especially at the federal level, is securing a conviction. Period. That's a win for them. And we all want to win, right? Especially federal prosecutors. And keep in mind, all of Peggy's scams are classified as white-collar crime.

And the vast majority of white-collar criminals never see a day behind bars. Prosecutors know that, so they don't care about jail time or no jail time per se. They just want a conviction, ideally from a guilty plea, because that can't be appealed, whereas a conviction at trial can be. They want her to plead guilty. They don't want a trial.

Prosecutors don't want to prosecute in a trial because a trial, A, is expensive. A trial, a federal trial, can cost millions and millions of dollars. You've got to impanel a jury and a backup jury. You might have to sequester them in a hotel, three meals a day. It could go on for weeks or months.

Add to that what the judge is being paid to preside over a trial every day for months, what the U.S. attorneys are being paid, and what all the expert witnesses and forensic accountants are being paid, not to mention the dozens of federal courthouse employees like the bailiffs and the court reporters. It's a lot of money. It's uncertain.

You have one juror who doesn't say guilty. It's a hung jury. It's a mistrial. You got to do it again. There is such a level of difficulty and uncertainty with a trial. Nobody wants a trial. So how they're writing this indictment with just a sliver of these crimes, they want to frighten her. They want to say, look, we got your number, lady.

plead guilty. If you're convicted on eight of these charges, you're going to jail for good. So plead, take a plea, take a plea, take a plea. That's the parenthetical in this whole indictment. Take a plea. They want her to take a plea. Not just her. They want every criminal to take a plea because a trial is a huge time suck, a money suck, and they could get away. They could be found not guilty. Totally. So that

That's why from counts five to eight, these are tiny slivers of time and money. We're talking millions and millions of dollars she stole ultimately, but they're not accounting for all of that here. Yeah. They're just giving you like a CliffsNotes. And you won't believe where Peggy's living when federal agents go searching for her right after this break.

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Stories about regaining a sense of safety, a handle on reality after your entire world is flipped upside down.

From unbelievable romantic betrayals... The love that was so real for me was always just a game for him. To betrayals in your own family... When I think about my dad, oh, well, he is a sociopath. Financial betrayal...

This is not even the part where he steals millions of dollars. And life or death deceptions. She's practicing how she's going to cry when the police calls her after they kill me. Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio.

I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs, from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil,

They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition?

Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all-new podcast There and Gone. It's a real-life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck, and vanished. Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident? Or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle.

Not for Richard. He's your son, and in your eyes, he's innocent. But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪

Welcome back to Queen of the Con. At this point in 2016, all the athletes Peggy was managing the finances for have cut ties with her and she's hit hard times. Gone is her Fort Lauderdale mansion and luxury cars. She's short on cash now and living in an old apartment building in New Orleans, dealing with noisy neighbors, air condition problems, and cockroaches.

And when federal agents from the FBI knock on Peggy's door on December 13th, 2016, they arrest her and get her into handcuffs. And then they start looking around her place and they immediately notice a check on her nightstand for nearly $200,000. Apparently, Peggy's got another scam cooking.

She tricked a local doctor into believing she bought a shuttered high school in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and was in the process of renovating it and planning to reopen it as a retirement home and make millions of dollars in profits. The only problem is none of that's true, according to authorities in New Orleans. This doctor invested many thousands of dollars, $197,000 to be accurate, in that particular project known as the Holy Cross Project.

And as it turned out upon investigation, the property was not for sale. Luckily, that unsuspecting doctor got his check back in the nick of time. If the New Orleans FBI had arrested her one day later, that money would have been deposited. That money would have been gone. But sadly, Peggy did get away with stealing the other check he gave her for $174,000 weeks before.

Cops come in, you have a check sitting on your nightstand. Like, what is going on? Chantel Cohen again. But that shows you that she has to catch back up. So she's going to figure out a way to do whatever she's been doing this whole time to get back to the fancy life that she loves to live. So that's what I'm nervous about of whoever her next victim is. And the U.S. attorney prosecuting Peggy for the Southern District of Texas knows that now more than ever,

Peggy Fulford is a financial predator. She looks for prey. She's looking for someone that she can ingratiate herself with, earn their trust, and steal their money. For more than a year, from late 2016 to early 2018, the federal case against Peggy Fulford makes its way through the crowded criminal justice system.

In the meantime, Peggy is free on bond, awaiting federal trial. And she pleads not guilty to all eight counts against her. She says she can't afford to hire a lawyer now, so she requests a public defender, who she doesn't have to pay anything to. And Peggy seems to really want to go to trial at first. But here's the thing about federal cases that go to trial.

The vast majority of them, nearly 100%, end with a conviction. And a scammer convicted at trial is usually sentenced to way more prison time than a scammer who throws prosecutors a bone and takes a plea deal. Actually, in a lot of those cases, if there's no violent criminal history, the scammer can usually get off with just probation and no prison time or very little prison time.

And that's exactly what Peggy's public defender explains to her. So Peggy changes her mind. And on February 1st, 2018, she agrees to plead guilty to just one count, interstate transportation of stolen property.

At this point, it's entirely possible that Peggy could walk away with zero prison time. But suddenly, something unforeseen happens that shocks the living hell out of the federal prosecutor. I was busy and we were preparing for the sentencing the next day and I got a message on my voicemail at work.

That voicemail is from an engineer named Ray Thompson. -Hi, my name is Ray Thompson. -Who says Peggy just scammed him in the days after pleading guilty to scamming all those other people. And engineer Ray Thompson is mad as hell. -I'm so upset.

He'd been working in Saudi Arabia to rebuild his life because he had lost everything after Katrina. And she convinced him that for a $25,000 investment, they were going to make a lot of money together. That, I think, really was the nail in the coffin about whether she was going to stop or not. And it certainly doesn't inspire the federal judge, who's about to sentence Peggy, to let her off with probation.

The other crazy scam that emerges before Peggy's sentencing hearing is that she actually stole someone's social security number and used it to fraudulently file for bankruptcy in an attempt to hang on to the Florida real estate she owns that corresponds to her real social security number.

So during Peggy's sentencing hearing, prosecutors planned to make a case to the judge to give her the maximum, 10 years behind bars. We were ready to stop her because we knew that she was probably out victimizing people every day. It's November 7th, 2018, and Peggy's sentencing hearing is now in session.

Three of her victims suddenly show up in the courtroom and they desperately want to talk to the judge. The first one to speak is Kristen Williams. Thank you very much for giving me the time and opportunity to speak at this hearing today. Please know that I am speaking on behalf of myself as well as my former husband, Ricky Williams, who is not able to be here. Former husband? Wow.

The sad truth of the matter is, after getting scammed by Peggy out of millions and millions of dollars, Ricky Williams and Kristen are now divorced. But they appear to be on good terms, as Kristen explains to the judge why Ricky can't be here today. He is in the middle of midterm exams and working in California.

He had to start a second career after losing every dollar he earned playing football in the NFL for 12 years to Peggy. Although I've had lots of time to prepare for this, I was never quite sure how to put everything I would want you to know about Peggy and the turmoil and hardship she has caused in our lives into words.

I thought perhaps I could start with December 1st, 2013, when I discovered that not only was there not enough money for me to go to the grocery store in my checking account, but that nearly $10 million that my husband had worked so hard to save for our family was all gone. Or maybe the day I discovered that we had 30 days to prove my husband's innocence to the IRS.

You see, Peggy had received a fraudulent $334,000 tax refund in his name and deposited it into one of her more than 85 bank accounts and promptly spent it. We have since discovered that that sort of thing was actually easy for her to do because she would use her driver's license that had the last name Williams on it and just pretend to be Ricky's wife.

When Kristen finishes speaking, what happens next in the courtroom stuns me. The judge seems to push back on Kristen Williams. You're obviously an intelligent woman, and I'm sure your husband had access to advice and counsel from the National Football League. Wasn't she an unlikely choice to manage money or manage investments? No.

Peggy claimed to be a Harvard-educated attorney. She had made up plaques on her walls. She supposedly had an MBA from Harvard. Her third husband, Forrest King, she told everyone, everyone that they started the first HMO in the country. He retired from practicing medicine because he had made so much money with his investments that everyone flocked to them.

She claimed to be able to give us all generational wealth to take care of our families. She had the highest friends in the highest places. She had an extreme amount of money, it appeared. She drove fancy cars. She looked like and acted like she was all of these things. She hung out with well-known attorneys. I mean, it was just, I mean, I don't have enough time to sit here and tell you all of the things.

Next up to speak is a woman named Rebecca Hilliard, the wife of NFL player Lex Hilliard. Peggy scammed them both out of $132,000 and then continued scamming them even after they confronted her. A year or so after we fired her, she started up another account and both of our names signed Lex's name and put power of attorney, which she did not have.

And as insane as that is, it's not quite as insane as Peggy scamming 64-year-old Ray Thompson while she was out on bond after actually pleading guilty to scamming everyone else.

Now it's Ray's turn to take the stand and tell the judge how Peggy tricked him out of $25,000, claiming she had a profitable medical management business in Phoenix and was going to give Ray a huge return on his investment. Oh, and she told Ray her name was Peggy Jones. I imagine just in case Ray ever Googled her real name and found news reports about her recent FBI arrest and federal indictment.

So I gave her money, a total of $25,000 cash. I trusted her. And even to know that her name wasn't even Peggy Jones, it just seemed like deceit from the beginning. Now it's up to the judge. But before he issues Peggy's sentence... Is there anything else you would like to say, Ms. Fulford? Yes, Your Honor. Please, go ahead.

And the stuff Peggy is about to tell this judge, you're going to think I'm making up. But I promise you, every word is true. You seem like you have so many skills, so much experience. Why was it necessary to do this? Was it simply a shortage of cash? No, Your Honor. Can I explain something? Next time on Queen of the Con.

They know where the money went. That's what I will tell you, is they definitely know where the money went. Peggy tries to play a federal judge. I know they painted a really ugly picture, but I was actually married to an anesthesiologist during that time. I was married to an orthodontist.

Those cars, a Rolls Royce Ghost and all of that, that was not in my name. That was in their names. A Maserati, that was in their names. All I'm saying, Your Honor, is that I was married to people who also made money. But will the judge fall for her charm offensive? I appreciate your candor. I really do. Thank you very much. You're welcome, Your Honor.

If you're enjoying Queen of the Con, leave us a five-star review. Reviews help other listeners find us. And by all means, click that share button and send Queen of the Con to anyone you think might be into it. Queen of the Con, The Athlete Whisperer, is a production of AYR Media and iHeart Media, hosted by me, Jonathan Walton. Executive Producers, Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions, and Elisa Rosen for AYR Media. Consulting Producer, Evan Goldstein.

Consulting Producer, Trace Sheehan. Written by Jonathan Walton. Sound Design by Zach Hirsch. Edited and Mixed by Zach Hirsch. Audio Engineer, Justin Longerbeam. Audio Engineer, Chris Desmond. Studio Engineer, Graham Gibson. Mastered by Justin Longerbeam. Legal Counsel for AYR Media, Gianni Douglas. Executive Producer for iHeartMedia, Maya Howard.

Voice acting by...

Statements from press reports, public interviews, and from court records were dramatized verbatim on this season of Queen of the Con. BET's American Gangster Trap Queens, TNT's Rich and Shameless, CNBC's American Greed, The Guardian, Sports Illustrated, The Times' Picayune, The Opportunist Podcast, Victim Interviews, and countless court records were the sources used on this season of Queen of the Con.

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