17 hours ago
Kouri Richins - accused of 'murdering her husband' with poisoned Moscow Mule - is hit with 26 new charges
Utah mother Kouri Richins who is accused of fatally poisoning her husband with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule, is facing 26 additional financial crime charges.
Richins, 33, killed her husband Eric on March 3, 2022, according to prosecutors who now also claim she was running a financial scheme linked to his death.
They outlined disturbing new details about her alleged activities, including accusations that she secretly took out massive high-interest loans, forged documents, and shifted money through shell businesses in the months before Eric died.
Summit County prosecutors announced that Richins had been charged with five counts of mortgage fraud, seven counts of money laundering, five counts of forgery, seven counts of issuing bad checks, one count of communications fraud, and one count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity.
Investigators claim she used a power of attorney to obtain a $250,000 home equity line of credit on Eric's premarital home without his knowledge and funneled the money into her business, K. Richins Realty.
The charging documents allege she went on to borrow millions more through hard money loans, even as her company was hemorrhaging cash and defaulting on existing debts.
Prosecutors say Richins was so deep in the red that she agreed to buy an unfinished $2.9 million mansion just one day before Eric died, despite having no means to refinance or repay the enormous high-interest loans.
On the day Eric was found dead, Richins Realty allegedly owed nearly $1.8 million to hard money lenders. By the very next day, court papers say, that debt had ballooned to almost $5 million.
The mother of three has pleaded not guilty to the original aggravated murder charge.
Court documents also claimed that Richins first attempted to kill her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl just a month before she allegedly served him the spiked cocktail.
Eric fell violently ill after eating a sandwich Richins bought him on Valentine's Day, telling friends afterward: 'I think my wife tried to kill me.'
During Monday's hearing, Detective Jeff O'Driscoll testified that authorities believe Richins housekeeper, Carmen Marie Lauber, 51, had sold fentanyl to Richins on at least three occasions, including after Eric had already died.
Text messages showed her allegedly seeking stronger drugs when the first batch did not prove potent enough, police said.
Prosecutors claim Richins attempted to rewrite Eric's life insurance beneficiaries, drained $100,000 from his bank accounts, maxed out his credit cards by $30,000, and stole $134,000 in tax funds from his masonry business.
Richins, who later published a children's book about grief dedicated to Eric, told reporters she wrote it because she 'found nothing' on Amazon or in bookstores to help their children cope.
She promoted the book on local TV and radio, drawing widespread criticism after her arrest.
The newly filed financial crimes paint a portrait of a woman prosecutors say was on the brink of financial ruin and desperate for a payout from Eric's estate, estimated to be worth around $5 million.
Charging documents detail how she blamed her husband and even an alleged identity thief in Seattle for her poor credit score, while she continued borrowing from lender after lender.
Defense attorneys for Richins have pushed back over the new charges.
'This sudden push to file new fraud charges over two years later underscores the weakness of the state's pending murder charges, since these fraud charges would not even come into play unless they fail to secure a conviction.
'The timing is also extremely troubling in light of the fact that the parties are trying to seat an impartial jury in Summit County.'
Richins' murder trial is now set to begin with jury selection in February 2026.
Prosecutors say these new financial allegations may be handled in a separate proceeding, leaving both families bracing for a long, painful legal battle ahead.
Her preliminary hearing on the murder count will continue in the coming weeks, with more testimony expected from investigators and forensic specialists who documented Eric's final moments.
Richins' brother Ronney said that 'Eric loved to party, he loved to have a good time'.
'The simplest answer is often the correct one, it was most likely an accidental overdose.'
Richins was then slapped with additional charges, including attempted murder, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud for allegedly forging loan applications and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after Eric's death.
Prior to his death, Eric had changed his will to make his sister the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and was even thinking of getting a divorce from Richins, according to his family.
Family attorney and spokesperson Greg Skordas previously told Daily Mail that Eric was afraid Richins was trying to kill him after two separate instances in which he became violently ill after drinking or eating with his wife.
His family has insisted that Richins is the one responsible for his sudden death.
