Federal agents arrested former college basketball guard Kerr Kriisa in Lexington, Ky., on allegations he participated in a $2.2 million fraud scheme, according to a Saturday report from Kentucky Sports Radio.
Authorities subsequently arranged Kriisa’s extradition to West Virginia, where he faces five charges of wire fraud. Kriisa played for West Virginia during the 2023–24 season as well as three other teams—Arizona, Kentucky and Cincinnati—during his college career.
The 25-year-old native of Tartu, Estonia, was set to play for Tartu Ülikool—his hometown team—in the Estonian and Latvian league this season. He was also slated to play for La Familia (Kentucky’s alumni entrant) in The Basketball Tournament, which La Familia said in a social-media post early Sunday morning would not happen as Kriisa prepares to appear in court.
Kriisa faces serious allegations of wire fraud
Authorities are accusing Kriisa of scheming “to defraud and obtain money by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, reputations and promises” over a four-year period beginning in 2022 and ending in ’26.
The fictitious pretenses Kriisa is accused of using to obtain money include a need to sell his organs, his mother’s cancer diagnosis and the insolvency of his family’s farm. He is alleged to have used the assumed name “Irene” for some of his communications, which are alleged to have taken place over a four-day period from Feb. 1 to 4, 2026. Kriisa’s Bearcats played the Mountaineers on Feb. 5 in Cincinnati.
“Financial fraud schemes erode trust and cause real harm to victims who believed they were helping someone in need,” U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey said in a government press release. “Our office will continue to pursue individuals who exploit others through deception. We are committed to holding them accountable for their actions.”
The government said in its release that “Kriisa allegedly signed a written agreement promising to repay one victim $100,000 by February 2026” in April 2025, which turned out to also be fraudulent. It is eyeing a monetary judgment of $2.2 million, as well as the forfeiture of any assets “traceable to the alleged offenses.”
Kriisa’s college career at a glance
Kriisa played the first three years of his career with Arizona, suiting up for coach Sean Miller in 2021 and coach Tommy Lloyd in `22 and 2023. Kriisa helped Arizona wrap up a No. 1 and No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament in `22 and `23, respectively. In the latter year, he led the Pac-12 in assists per game, and his success with Arizona helped burnish Lloyd’s globally minded reputation.
Joining West Virginia for the `24 campaign, Kriisa averaged a career-best 11 points per game but served a nine-game suspension for accepting “impermissible benefits.” A Jones fracture truncated his 2025 season with Kentucky, and he closed out his college career with Cincinnati in `26, averaging 5.8 points and three assists in 19 games.
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