A former Estonian basketball guard who once starred for the University of Arizona has been indicted on federal wire‑fraud charges after prosecutors say he orchestrated a $2.2 million scheme that preyed on strangers with fabricated tales of family illness and danger.
A Scheme Built on Deception
The indictment, filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia, alleges that Kerr Kriisa, 23, faces five counts of wire fraud for deceiving multiple victims through false identities and misleading communications.
According to the charging documents, Kriisa posed as a series of fictitious contacts — including a supposed mother battling cancer — to persuade two separate victims to send him money. He repeatedly requested additional payments, citing urgent financial needs that never materialized.
In April 2025, he signed a written agreement promising to return $100,000 to one of the victims by February 2026, a pledge prosecutors say was never intended to be honored. The agreement, authorities contend, was part of a broader pattern of fraud that stretched across Monongalia County and extended to other states.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a $2.2 million forfeiture judgment, asserting that the illicit proceeds must be returned to the victims and that Kriisa should be stripped of any financial benefit derived from the scheme.
Kriisa’s basketball résumé includes three seasons at Arizona, a year at West Virginia, and brief stops at Kentucky and Cincinnati, where he compiled a career average of 8.8 points and 4.4 assists in 127 Division I games.