Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins, who will stand trial for murder next year, engaged in a felony “pattern of unlawful activity” in the two years before her husband died in 2022.
The Kamas mother of three was charged with murder in 2023, for allegedly poisoning Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl. She would go on to write a children’s book about grieving.
A trial is set for February 2026. Kouri Richins maintains her innocence and has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors originally included financial crimes when they first charged her in 3rd District Court, claiming they were part of her alleged motive for murder. Judge Richard Mrazik, later separated the murder charges from some of the alleged financial wrongdoings at the request of Richins’ defense team.
No date has been scheduled for a trial on the alleged financial crimes, the scope of which may now have grown exponentially.
Richins initially faced seven financial crimes, four of which were broken into a separate trial, instead of the 26 prosecutors dropped June 27.
They still want to reference those alleged misdeeds in the murder trial, but Mrazik hasn’t decided whether to admit financial evidence yet. Much of the evidence has also already been laid out in civil court, where Richins’ in-laws are trying to claw back money they say she stole.
Utah courts prohibit using evidence of other alleged crimes to tarnish a defendant’s character, in other words, to cast the defendant as the type of person who would commit crimes. But the evidence could be allowed if it pertains to motive.
Among the 26 felonies Richins was charged with June 27 are five counts of mortgage fraud and five corresponding counts of forgery. There are seven counts of issuing a bad check, seven counts of money laundering, one count of communications fraud and one of displaying a “pattern of unlawful activity.”
In a statement, defense attorneys Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis called the timing of the charges “troubling in light of the fact that the parties are trying to seat an impartial jury in Summit County.” Prosecutors declined to comment.
Kouri Richins was formerly a real estate agent and ran the firm K. Richins Realty.
In their indictment, prosecutors say she lied to mortgage lenders about her bank balance to secure loans to buy and sell homes.
“In the five months prior to Eric Richins’ death, K. Richins Realty realized $170,000 in revenue while its monthly debt service exceeded $250,000,” prosecutors wrote.
To keep her accounts in the black, they say Richins wrote herself bad checks, which also amounted to money laundering.
The count of communications fraud refers to an instance in which Richins signed a rent-to-own agreement with her “best friend” on a home K. Richins Realty owned in Heber.
The friend sent $45,000 to K. Richins Realty. Prosecutors say Richins agreed that would go toward a down payment on the home but instead used it to cover her company’s debts and other expenses.
All of the alleged financial crimes supposedly happened between June 2021 and January 2022. Utah's statute of limitations on felonies is generally four years.
Richins already could spend life in prison if she’s convicted of murder.
Together, the financial charges could carry a similar sentence because they are all second- or third-degree felonies. They could also eliminate the possibility of parole in the event of a murder conviction.
“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,” Richins’ defense team said in a statement.
Richins has been held without bail at the Summit County Jail since her May 2023 arrest.
