General News of 2026-09-23
Court document details how MP OK Frimpong allegedly moved millions from romance scams
Details contained in court documents have emerged on how Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Ohene Kwame Frimpong, widely known as OK Frimpong, is alleged to have been involved in bank fraud and money laundering in the United States of America.
Per the documents, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating Ohene Kwame 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 co-conspirators, defrauded several victims identified in the court documents as Victims A, B, C, D, E and F.
The documents indicate that the victims were allegedly targeted through romance scams and that some were individuals who could come forward to give testimony in court if necessary.
New Grace Restaurants account
According to the indictment, on or about July 21, 2020, OK Frimpong opened a bank account at GLCU in the name of New Grace Restaurants, a restaurant in Chicago which the MP had inherited from his parents.
The account was allegedly used to receive proceeds from a romance scam.
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On or about August 26, 2020, about a month after the account was opened, 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 or about August 22, 2020, Frimpong and a co-conspirator identified as FA opened a bank account, referred to as the USB Account, in the name of Grace Restaurants Ltd, a shell company in Illinois.
The account was allegedly opened for the purpose of receiving fraudulent proceeds from romance scams.
On or about December 4, 2020, Frimpong and Martin Misinu allegedly caused Victim F to transfer $480,612 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the USB Account.
Five days later, on December 9, 2020, Frimpong and co-conspirator FA allegedly travelled from outside the United States to Chicago.
On the following day, the indictment alleges, they caused transfers of $200,026.85 and $200,031.15 in fraudulent proceeds from the USB Account to business bank accounts in China and India.
More money allegedly obtained from Victim C
The indictment further details a series of transactions 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 his or her own name at Chase Bank in Chicago, referred to as the JPMC Account.
Co-conspirator NF allegedly also opened three other bank accounts for use in connection with romance scams.
On or about February 25, 2021, Frimpong and Gyasi allegedly caused Victim C to transfer $250,000 into the JPMC Account opened by NF.
On March 3, 2021, the same victim allegedly transferred another $250,000 into the account.
The indictment alleges that between March 7 and March 9, 2021, Frimpong caused NF to withdraw $30,000 in fraudulent proceeds from the JPMC Account.
On March 8, 2021, Frimpong allegedly instructed NF to purchase various Apple products to be given as gifts, including an iPhone for Gyasi.
The documents allege that on the same day, NF spent $5,875.20 at Best Buy using a debit card drawn on the JPMC Account.
Victim A allegedly transfers $500,000
The indictment also details 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.
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Five days later, on March 27, Frimpong allegedly caused CA to open a bank account at Chase Bank in Chicago in the name of a shell entity, AJ Plums LLC, as well as in CA’s own name.
On or about April 28, 2021, Frimpong and his co-conspirators allegedly caused Victim A to transfer $250,000 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the JPMC Account opened by co-conspirator CA.
On April 29, Frimpong allegedly transferred $200,000 from the JPMC Account into another account.
The indictment alleges that after the first transfer, Frimpong and his co-conspirators again caused Victim A to send another $250,000 on or about May 12, 2021.
After receiving the second payment, the documents allege that between May 12 and May 13, Frimpong and co-conspirator CA caused transfers of $23,000, $75,000 and $24,500 in fraudulent proceeds into another account.
Victims D and E
The indictment also outlines alleged transactions involving Victims D and E in 2022.
On November 13, 2021, co-conspirator MFN allegedly travelled from the Netherlands to Chicago at Frimpong’s direction.
On November 16, MFN allegedly opened bank accounts referred to as the BMO Account and BOA Account in the name of a fictitious entity, Allsop LLC, at branches of BMO Harris Bank and Bank of America.
The documents further allege that MFN opened other accounts on the same date.
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, on March 22, Frimpong and a co-conspirator allegedly caused Victim D to send $250,000 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam to the BMO Account and another $300,000 to the BOA Account.
On March 23, the indictment alleges that Frimpong directed MFN to transfer fraudulent proceeds from both the BOA Account and BMO Account to a bank account in Ghana.
On March 31, 2022, Victim E allegedly transferred another $48,199 in fraudulent proceeds from a romance scam into the BOA Account.
On the same day, MFN allegedly travelled to a Bank of America branch in Chicago to have the BOA Account unfrozen.
According to the indictment, at Frimpong’s direction, MFN 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 inheritance and gold stories used in romance scams
The indictment further gives details of some of the stories Frimpong and his alleged associates are accused of using to obtain money from the victims.
In the case of Victim F, the alleged scheme involved an inheritance story involving gold and diamonds.
According to the court document, between August 2020 and January 2021, the co-conspirators allegedly 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 further told that certain fees and taxes had to be paid to transfer the gold bullion before the inheritance could be received.
The document states:
“It was part of the scheme that, between August 2020 and January 2021, co-schemers obtained more than $480,000 from Victim F by falsely posing as a romantic partner named ‘Hannah Garvey’ and falsely represented that, among other things, she was seeking to move from New York to London due to an inheritance she recently received of gold and diamonds worth $40 to $50 million, and that she needed to pay certain fees and taxes to transfer the gold bullion to her in order to receive her inheritance.”
The indictment also alleges that Victim C was targeted with another story involving gold and an inheritance.
According to the document, between July 2019 and April 2022, the co-conspirators allegedly 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 bequeathed gold bars from the mine to her.
The co-conspirators allegedly represented that she needed to pay certain taxes, duties and fees before she could sell the gold bars.
The indictment added, “It was further part of the scheme that, between July 2019 and April 2022, co-schemers obtained more than $2 million from Victim C by posing as a romantic partner named ‘Juliana Alina,’ and falsely represented that, among other things, her father had owned a gold mine in Johannesburg, her father had bequeathed gold bars from that mine to her, and she needed to pay certain taxes, duties, and fees in order to sell the gold bars.”
The transactions outlined 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 detail how the alleged proceeds 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 remain matters before the court, and Frimpong is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
AK/AM
