Three Ghanaians were recently arrested in connection with a $100 million fraud scheme involving Business Email Compromise (BEC) and romance scams, commonly known as ‘sakawa’, in the United States of America (USA).
The three suspects who are about to be extradited to the US, GhanaWeb has gathered, are part of the criminal gang known as ‘The Enterprise’.
The arrest of the suspect follows an extradition request from US authorities for four Ghanaians suspected of being members of the criminal gang.
An earlier report by GhanaWeb named only one of the suspects, Isaac Kofi Oduro Boateng, also known as Kofi Boat, a man identified only as Agony, and a third accomplice.
GhanaWeb has sighted documents that give more details of the four suspects and the crimes they have been accused of.
Details on the Ghanaians to be extradited:
An arrest warrant signed by the Minister of the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka, on March 18, 2025, showed the names of all the suspects who have been described as the “chairmen or high-ranking members of The Enterprise”.
Aside from Kofi Boateng, the other suspects named in the arrest warrant are Inusah Ahmed, Derrick Van Yeboah, and Patrick Kwame Asare.
The arrest warrant issued by the minister identified the four men as Ghanaians.
“…in exercise of the powers conferred on the Minister of the Interior by section 7(1) of the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22), the following order is hereby made.
“It is hereby signified that a requisition has been made to me as aforesaid and you are hereby required in accordance with the provision of Section 7[1] of the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22) to issue a warrant for the apprehension of the said Isaac Oduro Boateng (Kofi Boat), Inusah Ahmed, Derrick Van Yeboah and Patrick Kwame Asare,” parts of the document read.
Kofi Boat is the owner of ICEFOOD LTD, a leading frozen food company in Ghana.
Court documents GhanaWeb is privy to show that Kofi Boat and three other Ghanaians are accused of committing Business Email Compromise (BEC) and romance scam frauds against individuals and businesses located across the United States.
The accused persons, who were described as “chairmen or high-ranking members of The Enterprise”, are also accused of facilitating the receipt, concealment, and transfer of funds from the fraudulent enterprises, defrauding dozens of victims of at least $100 million.
Timeline of conviction and arrest:
The four Ghanaians were indicted by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 30, 2023.
The court charged them with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in relation to a criminal enterprise operating out of Ghana.
Specifically, they were charged with “conspiracy to commit wire fraud”, “wire fraud and aiding and abetting wire fraud”, “conspiracy to commit money laundering”, “conspiracy to receive stolen money”, and “receipt of stolen money, and aiding and abetting receipt of stolen money.”
Following their interdiction, an extradition request was issued by the US Department of State and relayed through the US Embassy in Accra on June 13, 2024.
However, a warrant for the arrest of the suspects was only issued on March 18, 2025, which led to the arrest of three of the suspects recently.
The suspects were arraigned before a magistrate court in Accra, and have since been remanded into police custody, pending proceedings for their extradition to the US.
Hajia4Reall was recently deported to Ghana after being released from jail in the US
About ‘The Enterprise’:
‘The Enterprise’ is a notorious ‘sakawa’ empire which operates in Ghana and West Africa, and has ripped off victims to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Since 2021, US authorities have arrested and prosecuted up to 25 members of the notorious gang, including Ghanaian social media personality, Mona Faiz Montrage, widely known as Hajia4Reall.
In February 2021, investigative authorities in the United States announced the arrest of six Ghanaians suspected of being part of ‘The Enterprise’ across some states in the USA at different times.
The members of the gang who were arrested included Farouk Appiedu, Fred Asante, Celvin Freeman, Lord Aning, Sadick Edusei Kissi, and Faisal Ali.
The operation that led to their arrest spanned between 2013 and 2020, during which period the group committed a series of business e-mail compromises and romance scams against individuals and businesses located across the United States.
Freeman and Ali were arrested in New Jersey on February 17, 2021, and have since appeared before a Manhattan federal court.
Asante and Aning were also arrested the same day (February 17, 2021), but in Virginia, with authorities saying they had been arraigned before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.
Appiedu’s arrest was as far back as October 18, 2020, in Queens, New York.
Kissi, on the other hand, was previously arrested in Fargo, North Dakota, on February 5, 2020.
“The frauds perpetrated by The Enterprise have consisted of, among other frauds, business e-mail compromises, romance scams, and fraud schemes related to the novel coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic”, an official statement said in part.
Throughout their operations, four of the six suspects — Appiedu, Asante, Freeman, and Aning — were said to have controlled more than 45 bank accounts with deposits totalling approximately $55 million.
The operation was undertaken by the New York Offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS, CI). Prosecution of the case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
BAI/VPO
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