What Happened to Kurt Busch’s Fraudster Ex-Girlfriend?

Back in the day, NASCAR driver Kurt Busch was known as "The Outlaw," a nickname that showcased his bad-boy reputation on and off the track. The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champ has since dropped the problematic nickname, but, as it turns out, it was Busch's ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, who was the real outlaw all along.

In September 2019, Driscoll was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for stealing money from the Armed Forces Foundation, a non-profit veterans charity designed to help military families. Driscoll's personal life was just as messy as her professional one, as her relationship with Busch ended in her levying domestic violence allegations against him. Busch pushed back against these allegations, even going so far as to accuse Driscoll of being a trained assassin.

Patricia Driscoll started dating Kurt Busch in 2011, when her son Houston, from a previous relationship, was six years old. The two met at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland, and at the time, Driscoll called Busch "the love of her life."

Unfortunately, things would eventually take a turn for the messy. On November 7, 2014, Busch was investigated for domestic abuse for a September 26 incident at Dover International Speedway. Driscoll alleged that Busch had slammed her head against the wall inside the couple's motorhome. From February 20, 2015 to March 11, Busch was suspended by NASCAR. In the end, there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Busch. However, while testifying in court over Driscoll's request for a restraining order, Busch brought some pretty startling accusations of his own against Driscoll.

Remember that whole assassin thing we brought up earlier? Yeah, that wasn't a joke. Busch actually claimed, in court, that he believed Driscoll was a trained assassin, even going as far to say that she once showed up wearing an evening gown covered in blood. According to Busch, Driscoll bragged about taking down foreign governments and about being the inspiration for a female character in Zero Dark Thirty, the 2012 movie about the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

"Everybody on the outside can tell me I'm crazy, but I lived on the inside and saw it firsthand," Busch said at the time.

Of course, Driscoll vehemently denied the assassin accusations and nothing ever came of them. A few years later, however, she'd have some very real criminal charges to deal with.

On November 29, 2018, Patricia Driscoll was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud charges and tax evasion charges and one count of first-degree fraud by a federal jury in Washington, D.C. During her time as former executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation, Driscoll stole nearly $1 million, which she spent on jewelry, shopping trips, and other business ventures and personal expenses.

On top of her year-and-one-day prison sentence that was handed down on September 12, 2019, Driscoll was also ordered to serve 36 months supervised release, a period of home confinement, and 360 hours of community service. She also had to pay $154,289 in restitution and $81,779 in a money judgment forfeiture.

We guess that's what the outlaw life gets you.