Court documents in the United States have detailed allegations of fraud, bank fraud and money laundering involving Asante Akyem North Member of Parliament, Ohene Kwame Frimpong, widely known as OK Frimpong.
According to the documents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating Frimpong in 2019, with the investigation culminating in an 18-count indictment against the Ghanaian lawmaker.
The indictment alleges that from 2019, Frimpong, together with Shadrack Yaw Gyasi, Martin Misinu and other alleged co-conspirators, defrauded several victims identified in the court documents as Victims A, B, C, D, E and F.
The alleged schemes involved romance scams, with the indictment stating that some of the victims could potentially come forward to testify in court.
Restaurant accounts allegedly used to receive proceeds
The court documents allege that on or about July 21, 2020, Frimpong opened a bank account at GLCU in the name of New Grace Restaurants, a Chicago restaurant he had inherited from his parents.
According to the indictment, the account was allegedly used to receive proceeds from a romance scam.
On or about August 26, 2020, Frimpong allegedly caused Victim C to transfer $515,000 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the GLCU account, with the assistance of Shadrack Yaw Gyasi.
The indictment further alleges that on August 22, 2020, Frimpong and a co-conspirator identified as FA opened another bank account in the name of Grace Restaurants Ltd, described in the documents as a shell company in Illinois.
The account was allegedly established to receive fraudulent proceeds from romance scams.
On December 4, 2020, Frimpong and Martin Misinu allegedly caused Victim F to transfer $480,612 in fraudulent proceeds into the account.
Five days later, Frimpong and co-conspirator FA allegedly travelled from outside the United States to Chicago. The following day, the indictment alleges, they caused two transfers of $200,026.85 and $200,031.15 from the account to business bank accounts in China and India.
Further allegations involving Victim C
The indictment also details a series of transactions allegedly involving Victim C.
On or about February 10, 2021, Frimpong allegedly travelled from outside the United States to Chicago with a co-conspirator identified as NF.
According to the documents, Frimpong caused NF to open a bank account in NF’s own name at Chase Bank in Chicago. The account is referred to in the indictment as the JPMC Account.
NF allegedly opened three additional bank accounts for use in connection with romance scams.
On February 25, 2021, Frimpong and Gyasi allegedly caused Victim C to transfer $250,000 into the JPMC Account. The same victim allegedly transferred another $250,000 into the account on March 3.
Between March 7 and March 9, 2021, Frimpong allegedly caused NF to withdraw $30,000 in fraudulent proceeds from the account.
The indictment further alleges that on March 8, Frimpong instructed NF to purchase various Apple products as gifts, including an iPhone for Gyasi. On the same day, NF allegedly spent $5,875.20 at Best Buy using a debit card linked to the account.
Victim A allegedly transferred $500,000
The indictment also outlines transactions allegedly involving Victim A.
On or about March 22, 2021, Frimpong allegedly travelled from outside the United States to Chicago with another co-conspirator identified as CA.
Five days later, CA allegedly opened a Chase Bank account in Chicago in the name of AJ Plums LLC, described in the documents as a shell entity, as well as an account in CA’s own name.
On April 28, Frimpong and his alleged co-conspirators allegedly caused Victim A to transfer $250,000 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the account.
The following day, Frimpong allegedly transferred $200,000 from the account into another account.
The indictment alleges that Victim A was subsequently caused to send another $250,000 on or about May 12, 2021.
After that payment, Frimpong and CA allegedly caused transfers of $23,000, $75,000 and $24,500 in fraudulent proceeds into another account between May 12 and May 13.
Allegations involving Victims D and E
The court documents also outline alleged transactions involving Victims D and E in 2022.
On November 13, 2021, a co-conspirator identified as MFN allegedly travelled from the Netherlands to Chicago at Frimpong’s direction.
Three days later, MFN allegedly opened bank accounts known as the BMO Account and BOA Account in the name of Allsop LLC, described in the documents as a fictitious entity, at BMO Harris Bank and Bank of America.
On March 17, 2022, Frimpong and a co-conspirator allegedly caused Victim E to transfer $65,730 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the BOA Account.
Five days later, Victim D allegedly sent $250,000 in fraudulent proceeds to the BMO Account and another $300,000 to the BOA Account.
The following day, the indictment alleges, Frimpong directed MFN to transfer fraudulent proceeds from both accounts to a bank account in Ghana.
On March 31, Victim E allegedly transferred another $48,199 into the BOA Account.
The same day, MFN allegedly travelled to a Bank of America branch in Chicago to have the account unfrozen.
According to the indictment, MFN, acting at Frimpong’s direction, falsely represented that Victim D was her stepfather.
On or about April 1, 2022, MFN allegedly caused $167,210 to be transferred from the BMO Account to a Ghana-based bank account controlled by Frimpong.
Alleged romance scams involving gold and inheritance
The indictment further details the alleged stories used to obtain money from some of the victims.
In the case of Victim F, the alleged scheme involved an inheritance story involving gold and diamonds.
According to the documents, between August 2020 and January 2021, the alleged co-conspirators obtained more than $480,000 from Victim F by posing as a romantic partner named “Hannah Garvey.”
The victim was allegedly told that Hannah Garvey was seeking to move from New York to London because of an inheritance involving gold and diamonds worth between $40 million and $50 million.
The indictment alleges that the victim was told certain fees and taxes had to be paid to transfer the gold bullion before the inheritance could be received.
Victim C was allegedly targeted with a separate story involving gold and an inheritance.
According to the indictment, between July 2019 and April 2022, the alleged co-conspirators obtained more than $2 million from Victim C by posing as a romantic partner named “Juliana Alina.”
The victim was allegedly told that Juliana Alina’s father had owned a gold mine in Johannesburg and had left gold bars from the mine to her.
The indictment alleges that the victim was then told that taxes, duties and fees had to be paid before the gold bars could be sold.
Money allegedly moved through several countries
The transactions described in the indictment form part of the wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering allegations against Frimpong and his alleged co-conspirators.
The court documents allege that proceeds from the schemes were moved through multiple bank accounts in the United States before some of the funds were transferred to accounts in China, India and Ghana.
The allegations are matters before the court. Ohene Kwame Frimpong is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
