NASCAR: Kurt Busch’s ex-girlfriend is headed to prison, pending appeal

Patricia Driscoll, the former girlfriend of 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2017 Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch, is headed to prison, pending appeal.

Patricia Driscoll, who broke up with 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2017 Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch back in 2014, is headed to prison, pending an appeal.

She was convicted last November on for two counts of wire fraud, two counts of tax evasion and one count of fraud.

Here is what what court documents had to say about the matter, according to Racing News.

"“[She] solicited donations to Armed Forced Foundation by making representations that 95% of donations would go to benefit military members and their families, when she knew that she was diverting significant portions of AFF’s funds to pay for her personal expenses, such as her personal attorneys’ fees, her personal property tax, and her for-profit company’s expenses.”"

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Driscoll was the president of the Armed Forces Foundation, an organization that developed ties to the NASCAR community and was formed to accept charity donations to help military families. This organization shut down in 2016.

But a lot of the charity foundation revenue reportedly went toward Driscoll’s jewelry, alcohol and other items involved in her extravagant lifestyle.

She allegedly used more than $500,000 of this money for herself, according to Virginia Cheatham, prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

According to Kickin’ the Tires’ Jerry Jordan, this money was in addition to the $250,000 she already took from the foundation as her reported annual salary.

As a result, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sentenced her to 12 months plus one day in federal prison. She is also required to serve 36 months supervised release with home confinement and 360 hours of community service once she is released. Additionally, she must pay $154,289 in restitution and $81,779 in a money judgment forfeiture

Prosecutors stated that Driscoll’s punishment should be worse: between 70 and 87 months and a judgment payment of $472,954. According to MSN, court documents pertaining to the matter stated the following.

"“The Court saw the tremendous harm that the defendant’s conduct caused: not only did the defendant’s embezzlement from AFF deprive countless veterans of benefits that AFF would have otherwise provided to them, but the defendant’s lies and misrepresentations so disillusioned donors and volunteers that AFF was unable to continue its mission. This is not a case where the defendant’s lack of education, resources, or training contributed to the offense; rather, this is a case where the defendant perpetrated a fraud to support her ego and lavish lifestyle.”"

Driscoll’s attorney, Brian Stolarz, has stated that he will appeal this decision, and he has 14 days to do so. For the time being, Driscoll will be allowed to stay out of prison.

Both Driscoll and Stolarz maintained her innocence, even after Judge Leon granted several exceptions and reductions to her in issuing her sentence to begin with, primarily due to the fact that her foundation had, in fact, helped a number of military members.

Back in 2014 after she and Busch broke up, Driscoll alleged domestic abuse against him. She stated that he slammed her head against a well in a motorhome in the bus lot at Dover International Speedway earlier that year.

NASCAR, with no evidence whatsoever other than a Kent County (Delaware) Family Court Commissioner stating that it was “more likely than not” that he committed the act, unjustifiably suspended Busch for the first three races of the 2015 season, including the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and the ensuing races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the latter of the two tracks being his home track.

He was promptly reinstated ahead of the race at ISM Raceway after the Delaware attorney general declined to charge him.