An Easthampton attorney was recently arrested and appeared in federal court in Springfield earlier this week to face charges for various financial fraud offenses and lying to federal agents.

Phillip R. Williams, 49, was indicted on three counts of wire fraud, two counts of engaging in financial transactions greater than $10,000 of proceeds derived from criminal activity, two counts of money laundering, two counts of tax fraud and one count of false statements to a federal official. Williams appeared in federal court in Springfield yesterday and was detained pending a hearing scheduled for April 4, 2019.

According to the indictment, Williams was an attorney licensed to practice law in Massachusetts. Williams maintained an interest on lawyers’ trust account at a bank in Massachusetts and was required to hold funds with the care required of a professional fiduciary, for the exclusive benefit of his clients. Williams allegedly devised a scheme to defraud two individuals who transferred $950,000 into the account between approximately Jan. 29, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014. As part of that scheme, Williams stole $453,695 of these funds for his own benefit, his family members and two associates.

When Williams electronically filed his self-prepared 2014 individual tax return form 1040 with the IRS, he allegedly failed to report the full amount of the $453,695 that he misappropriated from the Williams lawyer’s trust account. Williams filed an amended 2014 Individual Tax Return, Form 1040x, with the IRS and increased his adjusted gross income from $44,439 to $282,000 in September 2015. In addition, in July 2015, Williams allegedly told agents that he reported an estimated $300,000 of the stolen funds on his 2014 income tax return.