Former college basketball standout Kerr Kriisa has been arrested by the FBI in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud scheme reportedly tied to his season at West Virginia University.
The 25-year-old guard was taken into custody in Lexington, Kentucky, on the evening of Friday, July 3, and booked into the Fayette County Detention Center, according to local station WKYT.
Kriisa is expected to be extradited to West Virginia, where he will make an initial appearance in federal court. Bail had not been set as of the latest available update.
Kentucky Sports Radio first reported that the Estonia-born player was arrested by federal agents in connection with an alleged fraud operation involving millions of dollars. The suspected activity reportedly dates back to the 2023-24 college basketball season, when Kriisa played for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
However, authorities have not yet publicly revealed exactly how the alleged scheme operated, how much money was involved, who may have been victimized or what role Kriisa is accused of playing.
The specific federal charges against him also have not been released. Officials at the Fayette County Detention Center told WKYT that they could not provide further information because the matter is a federal case.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it was not clear whether Kriisa had hired an attorney.
Kriisa spent the 2023-24 season at West Virginia, where he started all 23 games he played and averaged a career-high 11 points and 4.7 assists per game. He recorded 25 points in a game against Kansas State and scored 23 against BYU.
He began his American college career at Arizona after playing internationally in Lithuania and Germany. During three seasons with the Wildcats, he developed into one of the Pac-12’s leading playmakers and led the conference in assists during back-to-back seasons.
Kriisa later served a nine-game suspension at West Virginia after acknowledging that he had received impermissible benefits while playing at Arizona. That NCAA matter has not publicly been connected to the current federal fraud investigation.
After leaving West Virginia, Kriisa transferred to Kentucky for the 2024-25 season. He appeared in nine games for the Wildcats before a foot injury ended his season, averaging 4.4 points, 3.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds.
He then completed his final college season at Cincinnati during the 2025-26 campaign.
Over six seasons of college basketball, Kriisa appeared in 127 games, including 106 starts, and averaged 8.8 points, 4.4 assists and 2.2 rebounds. He scored 1,115 total points during his college career.
Before his arrest, Kriisa had been scheduled to play for La Familia, the University of Kentucky alumni team, in The Basketball Tournament this summer.
La Familia announced in a statement posted on X that the organization was aware of the charges and that Kriisa would no longer compete with the team.
The tournament is scheduled to begin on July 18. Kriisa had reportedly planned to pursue a professional basketball career in Estonia after the event.
The investigation remains ongoing, and additional details are expected to emerge once Kriisa appears in federal court in West Virginia.