A lawsuit was filed Tuesday against a Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death and is now charged with his fatal poisoning, seeking more than $13 million in damages for alleged financial irregularities before and after his death.
The lawsuit was filed against Kouri Richins in state court by Katie Richins, the sister of Kouri Richins’ late husband, Eric Richins. She accuses the woman of taking money from her husband’s bank accounts, diverting money to pay her taxes and obtaining a fraudulent loan, among other things, before her death in March 2022.
Kouri Richins has been charged with murder in the death of her late husband.
“Kouri committed the above acts in a calculated and systematic manner and for no other reason than to actualize a horrible ending: concealing his ruinous debt, misappropriating assets for the benefit of his personal businesses, orchestrating Eric’s death, and profiting from his death “. the lawsuit said.
An email message sent to Kouri Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Kouri Richins, 33, poisoned Eric Richins, 39, by putting five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in a Moscow mule cocktail she made for him.
The mother of three later self-published a children’s book titled “Are You With Me?” about a deceased father dressed in angel wings who watches over his children. She promoted it on television and radio, describing the book as a way to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.
The lawsuit also seeks to bar Richins from selling the book and from turning over any money made from it, saying it references events and details in Eric Richins’ life and his relationship with his children.
In the criminal case, the defense argued that prosecutors “simply accepted” Eric Richins’ family’s narrative that his wife had poisoned him “and worked backwards in an effort to back it up,” spending about 14 months investigating and failing to find out. find enough evidence. to support his theory. Lazaro has said that the prosecution’s case based on Richins’ financial motives proved that she was “bad at math,” not that she was guilty of murder.
