Edward Kwaku Boakye, 27, of White Plains, New York, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $532,738 in restitution to 11 of his victims after he pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.
Between February 10, 2017, and October 28, 2020, Boakye laundered money for other scammers who lured victims into various online frauds. Some victims believed they were sending money to support an online romantic partner who falsely stated they needed to pay taxes and fees to release an inheritance. Other victims believed they were sending money to ship gold bars in which they had an interest to the United States. The scammers directed the victims’ monies into accounts controlled by Boakye and his co-conspirator. The FBI traced $710,068.91 sent by 40 victims through Boakye’s and his co-conspirator’s accounts. One Arizona victim lost nearly $5 million to the scams, sending Boakye and his co-conspirator almost $500,000 and the remaining money to multiple other individuals.
When Boakye and his co-conspirator received the fraudulently-obtained monies, they kept a fee for themselves, and then transferred the funds via trade-based money laundering or other means to Ghana. Trade-based money laundering occurs when criminally-derived funds are used to purchase a commodity (in this case, motor vehicles) in the profit center for the criminal activity (here, in the United States) for shipment to the headquarters of the criminal organization (as to Mr. Boakye, in Ghana).