The truth about Richard Crosby III. He graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law and was admitted to the Ohio bar in May 2014. However, in November of 2020 the Cincinnati Bar Association filed a complaint against Crosby, alleging he had violated numerous rules of professional conduct while employed at a law firm. Crosby was put on probation from the bar. That is the end of the truth as we know it from Crosby. Now losing a law license would normally be the end of a lawyer’s future. But for Crosby, losing a law license was a springboard into path of stolen identity schemes and Social Security fraud.
While on probation, Crosby began job hunting. But he didn’t use his name to do it. For instance, in June 2021, Crosby used the alias “Richard Williams” provided a D.C. law firm with a resume filled with false information. In his application, he claimed to be an ex-Marine and a collegiate football player for the University of Michigan School of Law. He claimed to have worked as counsel to a biopharmaceutical company and was licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C. For the next two years, Crosby applied to numerous law firms using stolen identities belonging to his elderly father, his girlfriend, a dead man, among others. Fantasy identities that he used to obtain employment with at least seven law firms.
Crosby was stopped and hindered a few times. In April of 2023, the firm he was working for received an inquiry with a Child Support Enforcement Office in Ohio. As a result, the firm learned of Crosby’s true identity and fired him. Four more times, Crosby garnered employment opportunities from law firms only to have them withdrawn or terminated once they determined Crosby was using a false identity. In his final attempt at getting a job, Crosby again tried his luck in California. In September, he applied for a job as Chris Miller from Arlington, Virginia. However, the Social Security number Crosby provided on his W-9 belonged to a dead man from North Carolina. To which federal agents arrested him. Finally.
Shout out to the Social Security Administration in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Disbarred in Ohio, he tricked a California law firm into a $250,000 job offer” published by Los Angeles Times on July 11, 2024.
When he applied for a job at a California law firm last September, he identified himself as Christopher “Rich” Miller-Williams and claimed to be an ex-Marine who attended the University of Michigan School of Law.
He said he had played football at the University of Michigan, worked as in-house counsel at Bristol Myers Squibb, a biopharmaceutical company, and was licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C.
