A 36-year-old Ghanaian living in the United States, Emmanuel Quamey, has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for receiving and laundering money obtained through romance scams.
The scam defrauded over a dozen vulnerable and/or elderly victims in the U.S.
According to court documents, Quamey and a network of co-conspirators received over US$3.8 million in fraud proceeds between September 2019 and March 2023.
The culprits used fake personas to express strong romantic interest in their targeted victims in order to trick them into sending money to them.
Quamey was responsible for receiving and laundering approximately US$3.3 million of the victims’ money that was wired into bank accounts he directly controlled.
Using more than a dozen bank accounts in the United States and Ghana, he and his co-conspirators would then transfer the victims’ money overseas to Ghana.
In October 2023, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive stolen money for his role in the scheme.
READ ALSO: Hajia4Reall Pleads Guilty In $2m Romance Scam Case
As part of his sentence, Quamey was ordered to pay US$3.3 million in forfeiture and US$3.8 million in restitution to the victims.
Announcing the sentence, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace said, “romance scams are callous crimes”.
“Perpetrators steal money from vulnerable and elderly victims by taking advantage of the victims’ trust and desire to form human connections.
“This sentence serves as a warning to individuals like the defendant that there are real consequences to participating in these cruel scams,” the District Attorney said.
The DA also thanked the special agents of Homeland Security Investigations New York for their exemplary work on the case.