A Florida woman lost crypto assets valued at $17 million in an elaborate scheme orchestrated by her former boyfriend, Kirk West. The perpetrator exploited familial trust by posing as a seasoned cryptocurrency expert and affluent investor to gain access to Nancy Jones’s digital and physical assets.
Court documents reveal West stole approximately 5.5 million XRP tokens from Jones’s Ledger hardware wallet alongside $400,000 in cash stored across two residential safes. This follows his 2016 conviction for bank fraud, demonstrating a recurrent pattern of financial deception.
West was apprehended by law enforcement and now faces multiple felony charges including fraud and grand theft. Legal experts indicate his prior criminal record will substantially impact sentencing considerations during upcoming proceedings.
Cybersecurity specialists emphasize critical precautions for crypto holders: maintain strict control over hardware wallet access, diversify asset storage locations, and conduct thorough background verifications before entrusting financial information to third parties.