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

On July 31st, according to FinanceFeeds, Nancy Jones, the widow of the American country music legend George Jones, became a victim of a scam masterminded by her ex-boyfriend Kirk West, losing XRP worth $17 million.
West was arrested in July 2025. It is reported that he took advantage of his access to Nancy Jones's assets to steal cash and a hardware wallet. Court documents indicate that on June 26, 2025, West stole more than $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.
Kirk West, 58 years old, met Nancy Jones shortly after George Jones's death in 2013. He pretended to be wealthy and quickly got into a romantic relationship with Nancy, moving into her residence. Court documents reveal that West had a history of financial deception. He was convicted of bank fraud in 2016, and at that time, Nancy covered his debts. West pretended to be very knowledgeable about cryptocurrency and persuaded Nancy to invest in XRP, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other digital assets. This trust gave him access to her crypto wallets, laying the foundation for the subsequent theft.