A 31-year-old Ghanaian man was found guilty of money laundering and fraud by a US court, and he now faces up to 50 years in prison.
Abdul Inusah was found guilty for his involvement in a Huntington, West Virginia-based operation that used fictitious online personas to defraud people in various states.
The US Department of Justice said in a statement that "evidence at trial established that Inusah was a member of a scheme that targeted victims using false personas via email, text message, and online dating and social media services."
"The conspiracy aimed to mislead victims into believing they were in a romantic connection, friendship, or business relationship with numerous fictitious personas from at least January 2018 through at least December 2019," it continued.
For the benefit of the fictitious personas, the victims were duped into sending money for a variety of bogus and fraudulent justifications.
For instance, the fictitious identity "Miarama" was used to trick a resident of Alabama into sending $106,000 in cashier's cheques and wire transfers. Included in the sum were $21,000 paid to Bitsav Supply LLC, a fictitious firm created by Inusah, and $48,000 to pay back taxes on a nonexistent gold windfall in Ghana.
"The jury convicted Inusah guilty of conspiring to launder money, receiving stolen property, and two counts of wire fraud. The two $2,000 Zelle wire transfers to Inusah from the funds acquired in January 2019 under the fictitious pseudonym "Miarama" are the subject of the wire fraud charges.
The punishment for Inusah is set for November 21, 2022.
He is reportedly the son of Inusah Fuseini, a former member of parliament for Tamale Central and former minister for lands and natural resources.
Source : Ghpage.com