A surprising new twist has emerged in the long-running legal drama over a multimillion-dollar crypto stash linked to the widow of country music legend George Jones. Kirk West — a Nashville resident arrested last year after authorities say he stole roughly $400,000 in cash and more than 5.5 million XRP tokens — has filed a countersuit against Nancy Jones, claiming he is entitled to a share of the assets. The dispute dates back to the years after George Jones’ death in 2013, when West says he first connected with Nancy Jones while exploring the purchase of the Jones family home, according to local reporting. The two later had a romantic relationship, and by 2016 West, then under house arrest on two counts of criminal bank fraud, had rebranded himself as a “crypto expert.” Court papers and affidavits allege he persuaded Nancy Jones to build substantial positions across a range of digital assets — XRP, Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Stellar (XLM) — and that some SHIB and ETH holdings were later stolen. In 2020 West is accused of making additional purchases on Jones’ behalf — including Terra (the chain that collapsed in 2022), Flare (FLR), Monero (XMR) and Songbird (SGB) — using platforms such as Crypto.com and Uphold. Last year, after Jones says she kicked West out over a suspected affair, she discovered a Ledger hardware wallet holding the keys to her crypto was missing from her safe. With legal help she recovered just over 5 million XRP, but roughly 483,000 XRP — now worth more than $1 million — remains unaccounted for. Authorities say the total haul initially included more than 5.5 million XRP, valued at more than $11.6 million at current prices. West’s countersuit, filed last Friday, rejects the accusation that he stole the assets and instead claims he “made numerous wise investments over the course of the parties’ relationship which built substantial wealth for them.” He is seeking half of the crypto, cash and precious metals he says were accumulated while living with Jones; his filing lists assets that reportedly include $5 million in gold and silver and $1 million in cash. The 58-year-old’s motion is the first public update in the case since private subpoenas were issued in October, according to Williamson County court records. News outlet Rolling Stone first reported many of the suit’s allegations and WKRN initially covered the court filings. Decrypt reached out to West’s attorney at Dana McLendon Law but had not received a response at the time of reporting. The case adds a high-profile, personal angle to ongoing questions about custody and control in crypto disputes — where possession of a hardware wallet or private keys can determine who ultimately controls large sums of digital assets. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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