On September 17, 2025, Colorado resident Lori Ann Kimball pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to one count of money laundering conspiracy for her alleged role in a pig butchering fraud scheme. The plea agreement described pig butchering as a fraudulent scheme in which conspirators use a fictitious entity to establish and foster relationships with a potential victims through social media or dating applications in an effort to obtain money from the victims. According to facts stipulated in the plea agreement, Kimball admitted to conspiring with a romantic partner to move the proceeds of a pig butchering scheme at her partners’ direction and acting with deliberate or willful ignorance that the funds she was receiving involved criminally derived property. As part of the guilty plea, Kimball agreed to pay more than $3.4 million in restitution and agreed not to contest any order of forfeiture imposed by the court. Kimball is currently scheduled to be sentenced on January 15, 2026.
According to the superseding indictment, between December 2022 and November 2024, Kimball conspired with others to facilitate a pig butchering scheme in which she collectively received more than $3.4 million from victims throughout the United States. As part of the scheme, Kimball allegedly received cash or checks from victims that she deposited into her bank accounts in Colorado. The funds were then allegedly transferred to cryptocurrency accounts in Kimball’s name in other states and eventually into digital wallets belonging in co-conspirators located overseas. While participating in the scheme, Kimball’s accounts were frequently closed, and she allegedly provided false information to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges in order to conceal and disguise her activities. According to federal prosecutors, Kimball utilized at least 20 bank accounts and at least 9 cryptocurrency accounts in furtherance of the scheme. Federal prosecutors further allege that Kimball continued to engage in the scheme despite receiving warnings from third parties, including law enforcement, that she was engaged in illegal activity.