CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — Former college basketball player Kerr Kriisa lied and posed as other people as part of a scheme through which he fraudulently obtained nearly $2.2 million from two victims, according to a federal indictment.
A federal grand jury in West Virginia indicted Kriisa last month, and the case was unsealed Monday following his arrest by federal agents on Saturday in Kentucky. A 6-foot-3 guard from Estonia, Kriisa began his college career in 2020 at Arizona, where he became a fan favorite for his feistiness and long-range shooting.
Kriisa, 25, is expected to appear in federal court in West Virginia this week on five counts of wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Matthew Harvey said.
“Financial fraud schemes erode trust and cause real harm to victims who believed they were helping someone in need,” Harvey said in a news release.
Kriisa led the Pac-12 in assists during his two full seasons at Arizona before transferring to West Virginia. Kriisa was suspended the first nine games of his lone season at West Virginia after admitting he received impermissible benefits while at Arizona.
Kriisa transferred to Kentucky in 2024, but was limited to nine games due to a foot injury. He transferred to Cincinnati for his final year of eligibility and started 12 games before suffering a separated shoulder in February.
From 2022 through June 2 of this year, he posed as other people, including his own mother, and falsely claimed that he and his family urgently needed money to deal with an emergency, the indictment says.
The indictment alleges that, in August 2022, Kriisa falsely told one victim that he had gotten a loan to repay her and then a few months falsely told her he planned to sell his organs to get money to repay her. Between 2022 and 2024, he contacted the same victim, posing as his own mother, and asked for money to pay for cancer treatments for his mother and to save the family's farm, the indictment says.
In April 2025, he signed a written agreement falsely promising to repay that victim $100,000 by February 2026.
From November 2025 through early February of this year, Kriisa repeatedly asked a second victim for money, sometimes posing as a made-up person named “Irene.”
FILE - Cincinnati guard Kerr Kriisa (11) handles the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Houston, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox, File)
Heavy rain and flooding are breaking a heat wave that gripped New York City and much of the Northeast last week.
Flash flood warnings were issued Monday for parts of New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey as rounds of storms moved through the area.
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned about heatstroke and shared locations of pools and cooling centers. By Monday, he was urging people to leave basement apartments immediately if they saw water rising in their homes.
Heavy rain stranded cars on flooded highways across northern New Jersey and caused part of the roof of a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ocean Township to collapse. Video from the store showed the roof over the bakery cave in and a torrent of water rushing down, sending tables of baked goods and at least one shopper clinging to a cart skidding away. Two people were briefly trapped but managed to escape, and no injuries were reported, according to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.
“Nothing too serious. They have us running from call to call,” said Capt. Leroy Marshall of the nearby Lakewood Police Department.
The rain and storms broke the heat dome that settled over much of the Northeast last week.
LaGuardia Airport in New York set a record high Thursday of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Low temperatures in many places barely made it below 80 degrees F (26.7 C), preventing people from cooling off even at night.
Officials in New Jersey were investigating at least 29 deaths that were possibly heat-related. The people were found dead on the street or in homes without air conditioning. They ranged in ages from their 30s to their 80s, New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Raynard Washington said.
Autopsies and other investigations will be needed before the deaths are officially blamed on the heat, Washington said.
Other states have not announced possible deaths from the heat.
Severe storms moved from Michigan to the East Coast as the heat wave broke over the weekend. About 450,000 people remained without power across the country, most from the storm damage, according to poweroutage.com.
A trash can overflows with water at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, Friday, July 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
People take cover from the heat under umbrellas as they wait for a parade of tall ships and flyovers in Weehawken, N.J., Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Vendors distribute ice at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, Friday, July 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
