Ghanaian Money Launderer Sentenced: 108 Months

Title: “Ghanaian Money Launderer, Fred Asante, Sentenced to 108 Months in US Prison”

Asante, 37, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, played a significant role in scams that defrauded American individuals and businesses, resulting in the theft of tens of millions of dollars.

The fraudulent schemes involved various types of scams:

Business Email Compromises
- Tricking businesses into wiring funds into accounts controlled by the criminal enterprise.
- Impersonating employees or third parties connected to a victim’s company using fake email addresses.
Romance Scams
- Targeting vulnerable older men and women.
- Establishing trust before coercing victims into wiring money to accounts controlled by the scammers.
Schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Submitted fraudulent loan applications through the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program.
- Deposited approved funds into accounts controlled by members of the Enterprise.

Asante and other members of the Enterprise received and laundered proceeds from the victims.
They used 19 bank accounts with approximately $36.4 million in deposits.
These accounts, opened under various business names, were used to launder money and obscure the criminal origins of the funds.

Asante was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.
He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay forfeiture in the amount of $647,488, and restitution of $2,292,486.71.
Co-defendant Lord Aning was previously sentenced to two years in prison.

Damian Williams praised the exceptional investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
Assistants United States Attorneys Sagar K. Ravi, Katherine Reilly, and Mitzi Steiner are leading the prosecution.