A Maryland woman, Flavia Annang, was sentenced this month to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution to 19 victims she and her co-conspirators defrauded.
Annang pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering on March 9, 2023.
According to the Department of Justice, between May 2018 and April 2022, Annang laundered money for scammers who lured victims into various online frauds. In some instances, the 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 or gold bars. The stories told to the victims by the scammers were fraudulent.
The scammers directed the victims’ monies into accounts controlled by Annang and her co-conspirator. When Annang and her co-conspirator received the fraudulent monies, they kept a fee for themselves, and then transferred the funds to Ghana. Annang and her co-conspirator set up phony businesses and then opened business bank accounts to hide the transfer of the fraudulently obtained funds. The FBI traced over $4 million, sent by 106 victims, through Annang’s and her co-conspirator’s bank accounts.
One Arizona victim lost nearly $5 million to the scams, sending over $1 million to Annang’s and her co-conspirator’s accounts and the remaining money to multiple other individuals.
Annang’s co-conspirator pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering and was sentenced to 48 months in prison on January 3, 2024.