US court jails two Ghanaians for internet fraud and money laundering

An American Judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, Thomas A. Varlan, has sentenced two Ghanaian nationals to prison for internet fraud and money laundering.

The convicts are 34-year-old Wigbert Bandie, who hails from a village in Northwestern Ghana, and 30-year-old Adam Khadijah from Bole in the Savanna Region of Ghana.

Wigbert was sentenced to 63 months in November 2024 for various roles in exploiting connections to convince individuals to send them money via wire, cheque, U.S. mail, and package delivery services.

Adam Khadijah, on the other hand, was sentenced to 30 months in jail.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Bandie pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349 and 1343.

Following his incarceration, Bandie will be on supervised release for three years. Brandie was also ordered to repay $2.18 million in restitution to the 11 victims in this case.

The two convicts were facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and money laundering. One other person, Mubarak Braimah, is still on the run.

It is alleged that from June 22, 2019, through December 31, 2019, the defendants conspired to defraud victims through romance scams, obtaining money under false pretences.

Wiggy Bandie and Mubarak Braimah allegedly targeted victims via social media, impersonating individuals overseas seeking relationships. They convinced victims to send money for shipping fees, promising profits from non-existent gold shipments. Khadijah Adam and Wiggy received these funds from the victims.

In one case, Wiggy Bandie, also known as “Kimberly McIntosh,” posed as an heiress to gold bars in Singapore, deceiving Richard Coleman, a Knoxville resident, into paying shipping fees.

Bandie created fake documents, including a memorandum of understanding for a 40% share of the gold, which Coleman signed. Mubarak Braimah, pretending to be a liaison for a fake shipping company, facilitated the scam, defrauding Coleman of $73,550.

JoyNews has learned that Wiggy Bandie, arraigned on November 27, 2023, was offered a plea bargain involving repayment and a six-year jail term, which he declined.