Ghanaian pleads guilty in $4 m romance fraud scheme
Osei, who was charged in February 2021, pleaded guilty to seven counts of making a false statement to a bank, six counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
A 30-year-old Ghanaian, Kofi Osei, has pleaded guilty in a US federal court in connection with wire fraud and a money laundering scheme, involving funds obtained from romance scam victims, a US Justice Department statement said.
The statement noted that Osei, who was charged in February 2021, pleaded guilty on September 16, 2022, to seven counts of making a false statement to a bank, six counts of wire fraud, and two counts of money laundering.
“Between no later than 2016 through at least 2020, Osei opened bank accounts in the greater Boston area using fake identity documents. Those bank accounts were used to receive fraudulently obtained funds from a number of victims of romance scams, in which perpetrators create fictitious online personas to develop online romantic relationships with individuals in the United States and then leverage those relationships to obtain money and/or property.”
He is also said to have used about seven false personas (Paul Proia, Kenneth Buck, Jeffrey Anashe, Author Ivey, David Label, Manuel Abdalla, and Andrew Matses) to open bank accounts to receive funds from victims of the scams.
“In total, Osei opened more than 40 bank accounts using seven aliases. Those accounts received more than $4 million in victim funds,” it said.
He is set to be sentenced on January 20, 2023.
“The charge of making a false statement to a bank provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the scheme, whichever is greater. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000, or twice the value of the criminally derived property.”
