A California man who romanced three women and swindled them out of money, including “black-ish” actress Jenifer Lewis, was sentenced on March 9 to eight years in prison in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
Antonio Wilson, 58, was also ordered to pay $272,000 in restitution, The Mercury News reported. He is charged with taking nearly $400,000 from the women.
Wilson was accused of conning Lewis, 64, out of $50,000. Lewis, who plays Ruby on the ABC sitcom “black-ish,” met Wilson at an LA Fitness gym in Los Angeles where he was working as a manager. The actress later sued the gym and settled for $13,000.
Ironically, Lewis plays a former con artist and sassy grandmother, Ruby Johnson, on “black-ish,”
Wilson pleaded guilty in 2020 to wire fraud. If the case had gone to trial, he would have faced up to 20 years in federal prison, Baller Alert reported.
Between May 2015 and October 2018, Wilson romanced the women, telling them that he was a Bible scholar, a Navy SEAL, and a successful businessman, according to an FBI investigation. He went by the names “Dr. Tony Mariot” and “Brice Carrington.” He told the women he was using their money as investments in his sound design company and software business, according to prosecutors. Instead, he spent the money on himself, they said.
Wilson confessed to authorities that he had sold unregistered securities to one of the companies by distributing “shareholder agreements” and “stock purchase agreements” to his victims. He made a total of $387,000 from the scam, spending his earnings on personal items, Salon reported.
U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson called Wilson’s behavior “vicious,” according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
“’Predator’ is not usually a term referred to in the fraud context, but it is an apt description here,” the judge said.
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Wilson also claimed to be an Oxford University graduate and an “Oxford professor teaching a course on biblical antiquities at UCLA,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
Wilson has been in trouble before. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and wire fraud in a similar scam. For these crimes, he served four years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
