Country icon George Jones’ widow Nancy Jones was countersued in her bid to recover millions of dollars worth of alleged stolen cryptocurrency from her ex-boyfriend, who now claims that he is entitled to a share of the fortune and accuses the 78-year-old of fraud and defaming him.
Kirk West was arrested at Nashville International Airport last July, with police intercepting the 58-year-old before he boarded a flight bound for the Philippines with his new girlfriend. A day earlier, Nancy claimed she had discovered $400,000 in cash and a ledger containing $11.6 million in cryptocurrency missing from her safe, filing a civil complaint and a police report against her partner of more than a decade, accusing him of theft.
But in court documents filed in Williamson County, Tennessee on Friday, West denied he had “stolen” any of “her cryptocurrency” during the breakdown of their relationship. Instead, West claims he “made numerous wise investments over the course of the parties’ relationship which built substantial wealth for them.” Therefore, West alleges, he is entitled to a portion of the couple’s significant assets, which includes up to $5 million in gold and silver, and $1 million in cash. (Attorneys for Nancy and West both declined to comment on the pending litigation.)
In denying a bulk of Nancy’s claims against him, West accuses Nancy of abusing the judicial process, unjust enrichment, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and defamation for “publiciz[ing] the accusations and [his] arrest.” Describing the accusations as false, West alleges he’s been “exposed to wrath, public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or deprived him of the benefits of public confidence or social interaction.”
West is currently seeking half of “all cryptocurrency, cash, and precious metals possessed by the parties at the time he vacated” their shared $5.9 million mansion.
Meanwhile, Nancy claimed she had been duped and seduced by the smooth-talking West, whom she met in summer of 2013, shortly after Jones’ death at 81 in April 2013. West had toured Jones’ 80-acre estate Country Gold, which Nancy was putting up for sale, and the two struck up a friendship that quickly turned romantic.
“Everything that he told me, I definitely trusted him,” Nancy said of her relationship with West at a court hearing in October. “Even the romantic part, I definitely trusted him … He took care of everything.”
West had an alleged “modus operandi” to use his looks, gentlemanly manners, and veneer of a successful real estate career to exploit “wealthy, potentially vulnerable women,” Nancy alleged in her lawsuit against West.
Rolling Stone previously spoke with numerous former associates, ex-girlfriends, and people who knew West, who claim he has a long history of persuading people to invest their life savings in his real estate opportunities and promising six-figure returns from flipping homes, only to hoard the profits. West especially targeted single mothers, sources allege, to prey on their vulnerabilities and milk them and their loved ones of cash before moving on to his next target.
“He is a guy that reads obituaries and preys on people,” said one former ex-girlfriend. “And I’m fairly confident that’s how he managed to get in touch with Nancy.”
