Abu Trica was arrested in Ghana by authorities
Lawyer for Abu Trica, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has indicated that US authorities are only alleging his client scammed more than $8 million largely because he declined to disclose the identities of individuals who provided certain bank accounts.
He claims this stance led investigators to attribute the full transaction history of those accounts to his client.
In a detailed explanation on X on March 29, 2026, Barker-Vormawor argued that the headline figure being circulated is not grounded in “evidence-based” transactions directly linked to Abu Trica, but rather in assumptions drawn from activity on accounts his client is said to have sourced at the request of an undercover FBI agent.
According to him, the allegation traces back to a statement by the United States Department of Justice, which claimed that Abu Trica defrauded elderly victims of over $8 million.
However, he noted that when the same case was presented to Ghanaian prosecutors, it was broken into nine counts, whose combined value drops to about “7 point something million,” a discrepancy he says already raises questions about the original figure.
He maintained that even this reduced amount is not supported by direct evidence tying his client to the funds.
Instead, he explained that investigators relied on the historical transaction volumes of certain US-based bank accounts. These accounts, he stressed, are registered in the names of American individuals and are not linked to Abu Trica.
Barker-Vormawor said his client was asked by an undercover FBI agent to find bank accounts for transactions. After providing one account that was later flagged as problematic, Abu Trica allegedly sourced a second account through another individual and handed it over.
He argues that authorities then reviewed the total inflows and outflows across these accounts over time and treated the cumulative sums, said to exceed $8 million, as proceeds of fraud attributable to his client.
He further claimed that investigators effectively warned that failure by Abu Trica to identify the individuals who supplied the accounts would result in him being held responsible for the entire volume of funds that passed through them.
“The US is saying that when they go through the history of these accounts over the years, the total transactions in them are over $8 million. So therefore, if Abu won’t mention the names of the people who gave him the accounts, they will say Abu Trica scammed people of $8 million,” Oliver wrote.
The lawyer also pointed to what he described as the only charge in the case backed by evidence, involving an amount of GH¢50,000. He said this is the basis for his assertion that the verifiable figure in the case is far lower than the millions being cited publicly.
In addition, he questioned the inclusion of projected or hypothetical sums discussed during conversations with the undercover agent.
According to him, figures mentioned as possible future transactions were added to the alleged total, despite not representing actual completed transfers.
Barker-Vormawor said the defence is still awaiting key documentation, including bank statements that would allow independent verification of the transactions cited by investigators. Without such evidence, he insists, the prosecution’s claims remain unproven.
He also disclosed that a separate suit has been filed against the Economic and Organised Crime Office over its public description of Abu Trica as a “notorious fraudster,” arguing that such statements risk prejudicing the case.
See his detailed post below
I ddnt know there will be this much interest in the Abu Trica post I made yesterday.
— Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor (@barkervogues) March 29, 2026
1. I see People are surprised how on earth I can say that the real amount involved is just 50,000 when it’s all over that it’s 8 million.
2. Now, to be clear. This is not about arguing a legal… pic.twitter.com/Y8O8blJeuK
Copyright © 1994 - 2026 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
