Man who stole $11 million worth of XRP countersues victim for asset division

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Man who stole $11 million in XRP sues his own victim Original Link: According to reports, Kirk West from Nashville, Tennessee, is accused of stealing over $11 million worth of XRP from the widow of country music legend George Jones, Nancy Jones.

The 58-year-old West was arrested last year for allegedly embezzling $400,000 in cash and over 5.5 million XRP tokens (worth over $11.6 million at current prices). Court documents state that West has now filed a lawsuit claiming partial rights to these funds and asserting that he is a victim of fraud and defamation.

The two met within months after George Jones passed away in 2013. West claimed to be interested in purchasing Jones’s estate. Subsequently, Nancy Jones and West began a romantic relationship. In 2016, West, during house arrest, started calling himself a “cryptocurrency expert” after being charged with two counts of bank fraud.

West allegedly persuaded Jones to make large investments involving tokens such as XRP, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Stellar. The restraining order also accuses West of stealing Jones’s positions in SHIB and Ethereum.

In 2020, West used platforms like Crypto.com and Uphold to purchase other tokens in Jones’s name, including Terra (which collapsed in 2022), Flare, Monero, and Songbird.

Last year, due to suspicions of infidelity, Jones evicted West from her home. She then discovered that her Ledger hardware wallet stored in a safe had gone missing. With the help of her lawyer, she recovered over 5 million XRP tokens, but 483,000 XRP (worth over $1 million at current prices) remain missing.

Jones claims that West stole her cryptocurrencies, while West denies the allegations, arguing that he “made several smart investments throughout the relationship, creating substantial wealth for both parties,” and claims to have partial rights to the assets. These assets also include $50 million in gold and silver and $1 million in cash.

The lawsuit filed this Friday is the first update in the case since a private subpoena was issued last October. The 58-year-old man is seeking half of the cryptocurrencies, cash, and precious metals held by the couple before their breakup last year.