American singer George Jones's widow targeted in theft plot by ex-boyfriend, loses 17 million XRP

BlockBeats News, July 31st, according to FinanceFeeds, Nancy Jones, the widow of American country music legend George Jones, fell victim to a scam orchestrated by her ex-boyfriend Kirk West, losing $17 million worth of XRP.

West was arrested in July 2025, reportedly taking advantage of his access to Nancy Jones's assets to steal cash and a hardware wallet. Court documents show that on June 26, 2025, West stole over $400,000 in cash and a Ledger hardware wallet containing over 5.5 million XRP tokens from two safes in Nancy Jones's Franklin residence.

58-year-old Kirk West met Nancy Jones shortly after George Jones's death in 2013, pretending to be wealthy and quickly engaging in a romantic relationship with Nancy, moving into her residence. Court documents reveal that West had a history of financial deception, having been convicted of bank fraud in 2016, with Nancy covering his debts at the time. West pretended to be very knowledgeable about cryptocurrency, persuading Nancy to invest in XRP, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other digital assets. This trust granted him access to her crypto wallets, paving the way for the subsequent theft.