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The Tennessee man has been accused of stealing millions of dollars in cash from his ex-girlfriend, the widow of country music legend George Jones. Nancy Jones’ lawyer confirmed to Nexstar’s WKRN that she was allegedly a victim.
Kirk West, 58, was taken into custody at Nashville International Airport on Thursday, July 24th, within 24 hours of the Franklin Police Department’s investigation.
According to the affidavit, Nancy Jones filed a theft report on July 23, saying West stole about $400,000 in cash and a ledger cryptocurrency wallet from two safes inside Franklin’s home around June 26.
According to court documents, Nancy Jones called her granddaughter on June 26, asking her to secure her jewels and cash from the safe after suspecting her “long-time romantic partner” was cheating on her.
Based on the affidavit, the granddaughter discovered that $400,000 in cash was missing from the safe, along with a ledger wallet containing approximately 5,534,307 units of the digital currency XRP. Each token was reportedly valued at around $2.10 on the day of the theft, so it was a code worth 11,622,044.70 at the time. The total amount of stolen codes had increased to $17,045,665.56 as of Friday, July 25th.
Kirk West (Courtesy: Franklin Police Station)
Police said the West was the only person other than Nancy Jones, who had a private key to access his wallet, essentially a pincode. With the help of a lawyer, Nancy Jones was able to recover about 5,051,102 XRP, but lost at 483,205 XRP. At the time of publication, the lost cryptocurrency is worth nearly $1.5 million.
According to court documents, Nancy Jones said she ousted West out of the house on June 28th. Jones said West said he would send $5 million in crypto funds back to his bank account.
Officials said West was charged with theft in excess of $250,000. His bonds were set at $1 million compared to the court date on October 23rd.
WKRN has obtained a copy of the suppression order to West and the accompanying affidavit. Nancy Jones said she was married to George Jones from 1983 until she died of hypoxic respiratory failure on April 26, 2013. He was 81 years old.
Nancy Jones met West in August 2013. He toured the house she put for sale. Jones says West represents himself as an interested buyer/investor. According to court documents, Nancy Jones later learned that this was a West “method” to meet “wealthy and potentially vulnerable women.”
Jones says West began texting her and providing her relationship and guidance in light of her husband’s death. Through their interaction, the widow of the country music star reportedly learned that West is not interested in buying her residence. According to court documents, he was virtually penniless and had no home for himself.
In light of their friendship, Nancy Jones allowed West to move to another second-floor wing of her residence in September 2013 before beginning a romantic relationship.
According to court documents, “It was given [West’s] bankruptcy, [Nancy] Jones totally funded their lives together, paying for everything from the pair’s living expenses to vacations to the new Mercedes-Benz [West] Drive. ”
According to the affidavit, West was previously charged with bank fraud in July 2016 and was accused of mistakenly misrepresenting himself as a “real estate investor” in the wake of “financing property purchases” and “refinancing real estate loans.” Additionally, West is said to have inflated his income and net worth. He also forged the income certificate he later submitted to Reliant Bank.
Nancy Jones reportedly hired a representative from the West and paid legal fees during the course of a federal criminal case. In September 2016, he pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and granted enforcement of “schemes and techniques to fraudulent trust banks” through “false and fraudulent misrepresentation” to gain custody and control of trustworthy banks, the complaint states.
Court documents say West agreed to pay Reliant Bank $935,045.04 in restitution and to pay an additional $787,663.68 in restitution to the U.S. District Court as part of his plea agreement. He also agreed to a three-year supervised release and a one-year arrest of the house, according to documents.
According to the affidavit, West persuaded Nancy Jones to pay his compensation and said he would pay her over time, but he hasn’t done so yet. Later, during house arrest at Nancy Jones’ home, West has been reportedly a “expert” in crypto and a widow of a country music star to invest in multiple cryptocurrencies, including XLM, Doge, XRP, Shib, and Ethereum.
West reportedly helped open the George Jones Museum in 2015 before being sold to a Nashville-based investment group along with George Jones’ name, image and portrait. The museum weathered the 2020 Christmas Day bombing with minimal damage, but it eventually closed in December 2021.
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