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If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?
A Colorado woman victimized by an overseas romance scam joined forces with the scammers, helping them to secure around $3.5 million from other victims, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
Lori Ann Kimball, a 53-year-old Castle Rock resident, was sentenced to 366 days in federal prison and ordered to pay over $3.1 million in restitution on March 24. Kimball pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She was initially charged in July with 23 counts of money laundering, in addition to the one conspiracy count.
“Sadly, Ms. Kimball was herself a victim of this malicious scheme, but she then joined those who targeted her,” U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said in a statement. “I urge all Coloradans to use caution when placing their trust in people they meet online, especially when those people ask for money.”
After the death of her husband, Kimball entered into what she believed to be a committed romantic relationship with an individual who went by “Joe Hart” in early 2022, according to her plea agreement. The pair met on a dating app and communicated online, as Hart claimed to work and live on an offshore oil rig.
Near the end of 2022, Hart began asking Kimball for money. Between October and December 2022, Kimball sent Hart “large amounts of her own money” through a cryptocurrency account, according to the plea agreement.
Things shifted shortly after. Kimball began moving money from other victims at Hart’s discretion, primarily sending funds to Nigeria. Individuals victimized by Hart would mail cash or checks to Kimball in Colorado, or wire her money directly, according to the plea agreement. Kimball would then transfer the money to crypto accounts and use it to purchase bitcoin, and then transfer the bitcoin to digital wallets provided by Hart.
Kimball transferred over $3.49 million from at least fifteen victims between December 2022 and November 2024, according to the plea agreement. A dozen of the named victims were the targets of romance scams; three were targets of investment scams.
“Romance scams leave deep emotional and financial scars, and the bad actors like Kimball, who help launder the proceeds of these scams, cause significant harm to victims and enable criminal networks,” said Amanda Prestegard, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office.
Kimball did not receive a salary for her laundering services; though she did use some of the money sent to her by victims to pay her mortgage, make small purchases and give money to family members, according to court documents.
She claimed not to know where the money was coming from or the details of the scam. However, prosecutors argued that Kimball “acted with deliberate ignorance and deliberately blinded herself” to the crimes, the plea agreement reads.
In December 2022 and January 2023, Castle Rock police met with Kimball and informed her that she was breaking the law after a victim reported that they had wired Kimball $85,000. Another victim reached out to Kimball directly in September 2023, warning her that she was participating in a romance scam, according to the plea agreement. Kimball’s friends reportedly told her that Hart was a conman soon after the pair met.
Despite all of these warnings, Kimball continued with the illegal scheme.
Kimball also provided false information to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to disguise her activity. She used 23 bank accounts and seven crypto accounts during the scheme. Multiple banks and crypto platforms froze Kimball’s accounts and flagged the suspicious activity to her from December 2023 through September 2024.
Kimball faced up to ten years in prison but was sentenced to just one year and one day. She has no criminal history, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
