Former Dolphins Safety Lands $9.5M Settlement in Advisor Theft Case

Longtime Dolphins safety Reshad Jones received $9.5 million to settle his case against Merrill Lynch alleging one of its former financial advisors stole nearly $2.6 million from him.

The settlement with Merrill Lynch took place in August but began receiving pickup this week, when Investment News reported on it. Jones, who played 10 NFL seasons—all with Miami—originally sought $16 million in damages in his complaint, filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a private organization that oversees brokerage firms and is supervised by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The two-time Pro Bowler accused his former financial advisor, Isaiah Thomas Williams Jr., of defrauding him. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Thomas voluntarily resigned from Merrill Lynch in December, according to FINRA records. Thomas is now prohibited from acting as a broker “or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm,” according to FINRA, which says he did not cooperate with its investigation into the situation.

Williams’s headaches did not begin and end with the FINRA complaint. He was also arrested in Florida in June, and charged with grand theft, fraud, and money laundering, according to Broward County criminal court records. Those records also show he was released in July on a $1 million bond.

Williams allegedly stole the total of almost $2.6 million through 133 separate transactions, and  

with another individual, Octavia Graham, who was also charged in Broward County, court records show. Williams allegedly used the money for personal expenses, including strip clubs and airline tickets.

In July, attorneys for Jones—Chase Carlson of Carlson Law and Jeff Sonn of Sonn Law—issued a statement calling the case “yet another troubling example of a professional athlete being exploited by a wealth management firm he trusted.”

“In this case, the wrongdoer was a Vice President at one of the world’s largest financial institutions—Bank of America’s investment management division, Merrill Lynch,” they said. The attorneys did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Jones, who last played in the NFL in 2019, is not nearly the first athlete to be defrauded by their financial advisor. Former Bulls forward Toni Kukoc is currently suing his former friend and financial advisor in Illinois for allegedly helping a Swiss bank embezzle more than $11 million from him over the course of multiple years. Ex-Spurs star Tim Duncan was also famously swindled out of millions of dollars by his former financial advisor in 2016.

“It’s all too common for athletes to hand over the keys to their kingdom to a financial advisor,” Kelly Richmond Pope, a professor of forensic accounting, told Front Office Sports earlier this year. 

She cautioned athletes: “Beware of anyone who tells you ‘I have everything covered, don’t worry.’”