Kouri Richins, the Utah mom who allegedly poisoned her husband with a fentanyl-laced cocktail after which wrote a youngsters’s e-book about dealing with grief, is going through dozens of recent costs.
The costs, filed Friday in a Utah court docket, embrace 5 counts of second-degree felony mortgage fraud, seven counts of second-degree felony cash laundering, one rely of second-degree felony communications fraud, one rely of sample of illegal exercise, 5 counts of third-degree felony forgery, and 7 counts of third-degree felony issuing a nasty verify, based on paperwork reviewed by CBS Information.
Kouri Richins and Eric Richins wed in 2013. On the time of their marriage, Eric Richins owned a profitable stone masonry enterprise. As a part of a prenuptial settlement, the couple relinquished all rights or claims to any companies they established. The one exception was if Eric Richins died whereas the 2 had been nonetheless married. In that case, his enterprise would switch to Kouri Richins.
In 2019, Kouri Richins began an actual property enterprise, the place she purchased, flipped and re-sold houses. Prosecutors alleged that Kouri Richins started stealing cash from her husband’s accounts with out his data in 2019. In 2020, Eric Richins realized about her actions, prosecutors mentioned, and met with an property planning lawyer to ascertain a residing belief. Within the case of his demise, his sister Katie Richins-Benson would turn into the supervisor of his property. Kouri Richins was not knowledgeable of the belief.
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The brand new court docket paperwork allege that in July 2021, Kouri Richins started utilizing altered financial institution paperwork displaying info from Eric Richins’ enterprise for mortgage mortgage functions. Then, from August to December 2021, Kouri Richins issued a collection of unhealthy checks, based on the court docket paperwork, and laundered cash between a number of accounts.
In January 2022, Kouri Richins defrauded a detailed pal, the paperwork allege. The pal despatched cash to Kouri Richins as down funds on a mortgage, however Kouri Richins used the cash to pay different money owed. The pal was ultimately evicted from the home, based on the court docket paperwork.
The sample of illegal exercise cost covers allegations that Kouri Richins fraudulently utilized for a life insurance policy for her husband, attempted to murder him, after which did homicide him in March 2022. Prosecutors allege that Kouri Richins poisoned her husband with a fentanyl-laced cocktail. She additionally claimed false insurance coverage advantages after his demise, based on the court docket paperwork.
In March 2023, a 12 months after Eric Richins’ demise, Kouri Richins self-published a children’s book, “Are You With Me?” The e-book, initially written for her youngsters, addressed dealing with grief.
About two months later, in Could 2023, Kouri Richins was arrested. Since her arrest, she has been denied bail and accused of witness tampering. She has not but gone on trial for Eric Richins’ homicide.
