A Ghanaian national, Derrick Van Yeboah, has been sentenced to 85 months (seven years and one month) in a United States federal prison and ordered to forfeit more than $10.1 million for his role in an international romance scam and business email compromise (BEC) fraud network that stole over $100 million from victims.
Van Yeboah, 41, also known as “Van,” was sentenced on July 28, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian after pleading guilty on March 5, 2026, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
U.S. prosecutors described Van Yeboah as a leader of a Ghana-based criminal syndicate that orchestrated sophisticated online fraud schemes targeting vulnerable individuals and businesses across the United States.
“Romance scammers do not simply steal money; they weaponise trust. Van Yeboah and his co-conspirators exploited trust, loneliness, and legitimate business relationships to steal more than $100 million. Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of these calculated frauds and our commitment to pursuing international criminal organisations that target Americans,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said.
According to court documents, the criminal organisation operated primarily from Ghana using two major fraud schemes. Members created fake online identities to lure victims into fictitious romantic relationships before persuading them to send money. They also carried out business email compromise attacks by impersonating company executives and directing employees to transfer funds into fraudulent accounts.
Prosecutors said the syndicate defrauded dozens of victims, many of them elderly men and women, laundering more than $100 million in criminal proceeds to West Africa.
Van Yeboah was personally held responsible for stealing more than $10 million through romance scams.
Court records showed that between 2019 and 2020, he used fake identities to deceive women in Ohio and Delaware, convincing them to transfer approximately $4.2 million to accounts controlled by the criminal network.
In another case in 2024, he persuaded a man in North Carolina to send approximately $123,000 after falsely claiming he needed money for a parent’s funeral and to recover gold and diamonds from Italy.
In addition to the 85-month prison sentence, the court ordered Van Yeboah to serve two years of supervised release upon completing his sentence and to forfeit $10,149,429.17, representing proceeds linked to his criminal activities.
Van Yeboah was extradited from Ghana to the United States on August 7, 2025, following a joint operation involving the U.S. Department of Justice and several Ghanaian institutions, including the Office of the Attorney-General, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Police Service’s INTERPOL Unit, the Cyber Security Authority and the National Intelligence Bureau.
By: Ekow Annan/newsalertgh.com
