US court documents have emerged detailing allegations that Asante Akyem North MP Ohene Kwame Frimpong was involved in bank fraud and money laundering linked to romance scams.
It will be recalled that the Asante Akyem North MP was dramatically arrested by Dutch security officials at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam shortly after a KLM flight from Accra landed in the Netherlands.
Sources revealed that a team of Dutch security officials subsequently boarded the aircraft and proceeded directly to the Business Class section where the Asante Akyem North MP was seated with another senior government official travelling on the same flight.
The Dutch security officials reportedly identified the MP, read him his rights, and placed him in handcuffs before escorting him off the aircraft into a waiting security van.
The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, later disclosed that Ohene Kwame Frimpong is under investigation over alleged fraud and money laundering offences.
According to an 18-count indictment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating Frimpong in 2019.
The indictment alleges that the Asante Akyem North MP worked with Shadrack Yaw Gyasi, Martin Misinu and other co-conspirators to defraud several victims identified as Victims A, B, C, D, E and F.
The documents allege that the victims were targeted through romance scams, with some described as individuals who could potentially testify in court.
According to the indictment, Frimpong opened a bank account at GLCU on July 21, 2020, in the name of New Grace Restaurants, a Chicago restaurant he had inherited from his parents.
The account was allegedly used to receive proceeds from romance scams. On August 26, 2020, Victim C allegedly transferred $515,000 in fraudulent proceeds into the account, with the assistance of Gyasi.
The indictment further alleges that on August 22, 2020, Frimpong and a co-conspirator identified as FA opened another bank account in the name of Grace Restaurants Ltd, described in the document as a shell company in Illinois. The account was allegedly established to receive fraudulent proceeds from romance scams.
On December 4, 2020, Frimpong and Martin Misinu allegedly caused Victim F to transfer $480,612 in fraudulent proceeds into the account. Five days later, Frimpong and FA allegedly travelled from outside the United States to Chicago.
The following day, according to the indictment, they caused two transfers of $200,026.85 and $200,031.15 from the account to business bank accounts in China and India.
The court documents also detail further transactions allegedly involving Victim C. In February 2021, Frimpong allegedly travelled to Chicago with a co-conspirator identified as NF, who subsequently opened a Chase Bank account.
Victim C allegedly transferred $250,000 into the account on February 25, 2021, followed by another $250,000 on March 3.
Between March 7 and March 9, the indictment alleges that NF withdrew $30,000 in fraudulent proceeds from the account. It further alleges that Frimpong instructed NF to purchase Apple products as gifts, including an iPhone for Gyasi.
On March 8, NF allegedly spent $5,875.20 at Best Buy using a debit card linked to the account.
The indictment also outlines alleged transactions involving Victim A. Frimpong allegedly travelled to Chicago in March 2021 with another co-conspirator, identified as CA.
CA allegedly opened accounts at Chase Bank in their own name and in the name of AJ Plums LLC, described in the indictment as a shell entity.
On April 28, 2021, Victim A allegedly transferred $250,000 in fraudulent proceeds into the account. The following day, Frimpong allegedly transferred $200,000 from the account into another account.
The indictment alleges that Victim A sent another $250,000 on May 12. Between May 12 and May 13, portions of the funds were allegedly transferred in amounts of $23,000, $75,000 and $24,500 into another account.
The court documents further detail alleged transactions involving Victims D and E in 2022.
On March 17, 2022, Victim E allegedly transferred $65,730 in fraudulent proceeds into a Bank of America account. Five days later, Victim D allegedly transferred $250,000 into a BMO account and another $300,000 into the Bank of America account.
According to the indictment, Frimpong subsequently directed a co-conspirator identified as MFN to transfer funds from the accounts to Ghana.
On March 31, Victim E allegedly transferred another $48,199 into the Bank of America account. The following day, MFN allegedly caused $167,210 to be transferred from the BMO account to a Ghana-based bank account controlled by Frimpong.
The indictment also alleges that the victims were targeted using elaborate romance and inheritance stories.
In the case of Victim F, the alleged scheme involved a person using the name “Hannah Garvey.” The victim was allegedly told that Hannah Garvey was seeking to move from New York to London because she had inherited gold and diamonds worth between $40 million and $50 million.
The victim was allegedly told that taxes and other fees had to be paid before the inheritance could be transferred. According to the indictment, more than $480,000 was allegedly obtained from Victim F between August 2020 and January 2021.
Victim C was allegedly targeted using the identity “Juliana Alina.” The indictment alleges that the victim was told that Alina’s father had owned a gold mine in Johannesburg and had left her gold bars that required taxes, duties and fees to be paid before they could be sold.
The document alleges that more than $2 million was obtained from Victim C between July 2019 and April 2022.
The transactions outlined in the indictment form part of the wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering allegations against Frimpong and his alleged co-conspirators.
The documents allege that proceeds were moved through multiple bank accounts in the United States before some of the funds were transferred to China, India and Ghana.
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