Briefly
- The alleged thief of greater than $11 million in XRP has countersued Nancy Jones, the widow of nation music icon George Jones.
- Kirk West alleges he’s entitled to a portion of the funds after making shrewd investments into crypto and different belongings.
- West can also be in search of half of the pair’s money and valuable metals holdings.
The alleged thief behind a heist of greater than $11 million in XRP from the widow of nation music icon George Jones has filed a countersuit in opposition to Nancy Jones.
Kirk West, a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested final yr for the alleged theft of $400,000 in money and greater than 5.5 million XRP tokens—valued at larger than $11.6 million at at this time’s costs—from Nancy Jones. West’s swimsuit alleges that he was entitled to a portion of the funds and is a sufferer of fraud and defamation, in response to Rolling Stone.
The pair linked within the months following George Jones’ demise in 2013 when West claimed he was excited about buying the Jones’ house, in response to courtroom paperwork initially reported on by Nashville’s WKRN.
Shortly thereafter, Nancy Jones and West turned romantically concerned, and in 2016—whereas underneath home arrest for 2 counts of legal financial institution fraud—West turned a self-proclaimed “crypto knowledgeable.”
West reportedly persuaded the widowed Jones to create important positions in XRP, Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Stellar (XLM). An affidavit hooked up to a restraining order additionally alleges that West stole SHIB and ETH positions from Jones.
In 2020, West allegedly bought further tokens—like Terra (which collapsed in 2022), Flare (FLR), Monero (XMR), and Songbird (SGB)—on Jones’ behalf by way of Crypto.com and Uphold.
After kicking West out of her house final yr on account of a suspected affair, Jones then found {that a} Ledger {hardware} pockets which protected the keys to her crypto holdings was lacking from her secure. With the assistance of attorneys, she was in a position to recuperate simply over 5 million of the XRP tokens, however greater than 483,000 XRP—now valued at greater than $1 million—remained unrecovered.
Whereas Jones claims that West stole the crypto from her, West is now denying the declare, alleging he “made quite a few smart investments over the course of the events’ relationship which constructed substantial wealth for them,” and is now entitled to a portion of the belongings. These belongings moreover embrace $5 million in gold and silver and $1 million in money, in response to Rolling Stone.
West’s Friday countersuit submitting was the primary report replace for the case since non-public subpoenas had been filed in October, in response to the Williamson County on-line courtroom information system. The 58-year previous is in search of half of the crypto, money, and valuable metals from the time he left Jones’ house final yr.
Decrypt reached out to the regulation workplace for West’s lawyer Dana McLendon Regulation, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.
Every day Debrief Publication
Begin daily with the highest information tales proper now, plus authentic options, a podcast, movies and extra.