While Ghana is internationally recognised as a peace-loving country, a beacon of democracy, and a country with the most welcoming citizens in the world, some Ghanaians, over the past months, have somewhat dented the image of the country.
A handful of Ghanaians have been caught between 2023 and now engaging in all forms of illicit activities, including money laundering, romance scams (sakawa), and smuggling of guns, among others.
In the United States (US) alone, more than 10 Ghanaians have been caught by the authorities engaging in all forms of illegal activities.
Here are some Ghanaians whose arrests for engaging in illegal activities in the US made news:
Inusah Fuseini’s son, Abdul Inusah
Middle picture shows Inusah Fuseini (L) and his son Abdul Inusah
The son of a former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, was sentenced by an American court to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release in 2023.
The 32-year-old Abdul Inusah was sentenced after being found guilty for his role in a Huntington-based scheme that defrauded individuals in multiple states through false online personas and was also ordered to pay $128,000 in restitution.
The details, culled from a statement from the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of West Virginia, said that the trial was decided by a federal jury after three days in court.
The statement from the United States Attorney, dated Thursday, March 23, 2023, added that Abdul Inusah was found guilty of being part of a “conspiracy that targeted victims using false personas via email, text messaging, online dating websites, and social media platforms.
“From at least January 2018 through at least December 2019, the scheme participants sought to induce victims into believing they were in a romantic relationship, friendship, or business relationship with the various false personas. The victims were persuaded to send money for a variety of false and fraudulent reasons for the benefit of the false personas.”
The statement also detailed the various amounts of money that were involved in this case, plus some of the names of the victims.
It added that Inusah’s involvement was largely through a shell company that was set up in his name and used in the crimes.
“One false persona, ‘Miarama,’ was used to induce an Alabama resident into providing $106,000 via wire transfers and cashier’s checks. The amount included $48,000 to pay overdue taxes on a nonexistent gold inheritance in Ghana and $21,000 wired to Bitsav Supply LLC, a shell company set up by Inusah. Another false persona, ‘Grace,’ persuaded a Washington resident to wire funds so ‘Grace’ could maintain her South African cocoa plantation and move to the United States to marry the victim. Other victims of the false personas included residents of Ohio and Florida.
“The federal jury found Inusah guilty of receipt of stolen money, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of wire fraud on August 12, 2022. Perhaps more than others involved, Abdul Inusah understood the scope of the criminal conspiracy and that it was exploiting innocent and often vulnerable victims,” the United States Attorney Will Thompson is reported to have said.
Abdul Inusah has, however, maintained his innocence, saying that he found himself in the mess because he sold vehicles to some fraudsters.
Eric Nana Kofi Ampong Coker
A Ghanaian based in Columbia, Maryland, Eric Nana Kofi Ampong Coker, pleaded guilty to illegally exporting firearms to Ghana from the US in 2023.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office of the District of Maryland, Ampong Coker, on Thursday, June 8, 2023, confessed to exporting firearms to Ghana without the required licence or written approval to export the weapons.
The district attorney’s office indicated that Ampong Coker, since 2017, has purchased at least 81 firearms from three separate Maryland Federal Firearms Licensees (“FFLs”).
It added that in 2019 the accused person received a Regulated Firearms Collector status through the Maryland State Police, which waived the restriction on the number of firearms he could purchase during a 30-day period.
“In May 2021, federal agents surveilled Ampong Coker as he retrieved firearms purchased from one of the FFLs and was then observed in a variety of locations, including a business that packaged and shipped items from the Port of Baltimore. A shipping vehicle was subsequently seen departing that location on May 27, 2021. On May 29, 2021, Ampong Coker was searched as he was departing the United States from Detroit, Michigan, bound for Ghana. Among other items seized in his luggage were foam cutouts used for packaging and securing firearms in gun cases.
“In early June 2021, HSI and CBP agents identified a shipping container scheduled to depart the Port of Baltimore for Tema, Ghana, on June 14, 2021. Included in the listed contents of the container was a 2018 Toyota Corolla registered to Ampong Coker.
“… On June 8, 2021, HSI, ATF, CBP and other agents searched the contents of the shipping container. Within the trunk of the 2018 Toyota Corolla, which had the Defendant’s name on cardboard on top of the vehicle, the agents found a grey suitcase. Secreted in the lining of the suitcase, the agents found five 9mm handguns previously purchased by Ampong Coker,” parts of a release issued by the state attorney’s office read.
U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron indicated that Ampong Coker faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for illegally exporting firearms when he faces the court on September 6, 2023.
Hajia4Real and members of the ‘sakawa’ empire, ‘The Enterprise’
Hajia4Real
On Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Ghanaian socialite, Mona Faiz Montrage, widely known as Hajia4Reall, pleaded guilty in a $2 million romance scam case in the United States of America (USA) and was subsequently jailed.
According to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Hajia4Reall was part of a notorious ‘sakawa’ empire which operates in Ghana and West Africa, known as ‘The Enterprise.’ – a cyber-fraud criminal gang that ripped off victims to the tune of $50 million from various parts of the US.
The other members of the gang, including Farouk Appiedu, Fred Asante, Celvin Freeman, Lord Aning, Sadick Edusei Kissi, and Faisal Ali, most of them linked to Ghana, were arrested in 2021.
The operation that led to their arrest spanned between 2013 and 2020, during which period the group committed a series of business e-mail compromises and romance scams against individuals and businesses located across the United States.
Freeman and Ali were arrested in New Jersey on February 17, 2021, and have since appeared before a Manhattan federal court.
Asante and Aning were also arrested the same day (February 17, 2021), but in Virginia, with authorities saying they had been arraigned before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.
Appiedu’s arrest was as far back as October 18, 2020, in Queens, New York. Kissi, on the other hand, was previously arrested in Fargo, North Dakota, on February 5, 2020.
The frauds perpetrated by The Enterprise include business e-mail compromises, romance scams, and fraud schemes related to the novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, an official statement said in part.
Throughout their operations, four of the six suspects—Appiedu, Asante, Freeman, and Aning—were said to have controlled more than 45 bank accounts with deposits totalling approximately $55 million.
The operation was undertaken by the New York Offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS, CI). Prosecution of the case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
Abdul Haruna, Ahmed Mutalib and Murtala Haruna – members of the ‘Amazon Pipeline’
In 2023, three men with ties to Ghana were arrested in New York, United States of America (USA), for illegally trafficking guns in the state.
According to a news report by pix11.com, the three Ghanaians, who are cousins, were busted in an illegal gun-trafficking ring that ran weapons on the streets of Queens, New York.
The suspects are Abdul Haruna, 27, of the Bronx; Ahmed Mutalib, 32, of Georgia; and Murtala Haruna, 30, of Cincinnati.
The report stated that the Queens District Attorney, Melinda Katz, indicated that 109 illegal guns, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition, were seized in the bust.
The guns and ammunition were seized during an operation by the traffickers, dubbed the “Amazon Pipeline”, and included pistols, semi-automatic rifles, and at least two ghost guns, worth over $120,000.
The authorities indicated that the items seized were delivered by the traffickers using branded Amazon boxes, hence the name “Amazon Pipeline”.
District Attorney Melinda Katz said that investigations indicated the illegal guns were likely going to be exported to Ghana.
“We don’t talk about ongoing investigations. I like to get to the source. But our priority, the NYPD’s priority, is making sure that the guns that we know about never reach the street,” she added.
The report indicated that the suspects are in custody. They have been indicted on 575 counts, including firearm, criminal possession of a weapon, conspiracy, and money laundering charges.
They are likely to be sentenced to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Ghanaian US Special Force member, Major Kojo Owusu Dartey
The Ghanaian is said to have smuggled the guns to Ghana | File Photo
A Ghanaian soldier with the United States Army, Major Kojo Owusu Dartey, has also been found guilty of smuggling guns to Ghana, using blue barrels containing rice and home goods.
According to a report by the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of North Carolina, dated April 29, 2024, Major Kojo Dartey faces a maximum of 240 months in prison.
The sentencing, according to the report, will be delivered on July 23, 2024.
“… between June 28 and July 2, 2021, Dartey purchased seven firearms in the Fort Liberty area and tasked a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to purchase three firearms there and send them to Dartey in North Carolina. Dartey then hid all the firearms, including multiple handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors, and a combat shotgun inside blue barrels underneath rice and household goods and smuggled the barrels out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship to the Port of Tema in Ghana.
“The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the DEA attaché in Ghana and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division,” portions of the report said.
Major Kojo Owusu Dartey was once featured on Kofi TV, where he gave some details of the work of the special forces in the US Army.
Former MD of Tema Oil Refinery, Asante Kwaku Berko
Former Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery, Asante Kwaku Berko, is the latest to be prosecuted by the government of the US.
He is accused of bribing Ghanaian government officials using the financial system of the United States and was extradited from the United Kingdom to the US on Monday, July 15, 2024.
According to a press release by the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, Kwaku Berko has been indicted for allegedly violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and money laundering after he bribed Ghanaian government officials to secure a power plant deal and laundered the payments through the US financial system.
The release indicated that the accused person arrived in the US on Monday and is set to be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn today before Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom.
The extradition of Kwaku Berko was announced by a team of US officials, including Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Head of the Criminal Division; and Christie M. Curtis, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).
States Attorney Breon Peace confirmed the crimes the Ghanaian-American is being accused of, saying, “As alleged, the defendant bribed Ghanaian government officials to secure a lucrative development contract relying on the US banking system to execute his scheme. My Office is committed to rooting out bribery and other criminal practices that create inequities in the playing field for business both here and abroad and exploit the US banking system.”
Acting FBI Assistant Director M. Curtis also said that even though the crimes Kwaku Berko is accused of were not against the US, the FBI would not sit back to allow the rule of their financial system to be violated.
“For over two years, Asante Berko, a dual citizen of the US and Ghana, allegedly bribed Ghanaian government officials to monopolise a promising business deal and used United States bank accounts to transfer such kickbacks. Financially influencing decision-makers, including those overseas, jeopardises the integrity of affected countries while creating an unfair advantage to those promoting the bribery scheme. The FBI will not permit citizens, regardless of their nationality, to obtain corrupt contracts by exploiting foreign countries and utilising our nation to facilitate the movement of unlawful payments,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Curtis,” he is quoted in the statement.
The release further indicated that the accused person conspired to pay hundreds of thousands in bribes to Ghanaian government officials between December 2014 and March 2017.
It added that the accused is innocent until he is proven guilty by the courts.
“The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Berko faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiring to commit money laundering and five years in prison for each count of violating the FCPA and conspiring to violate the FCPA.”
