Story Highlights
- US court documents allege MP Ohene Kwame Frimpong, known as OK Frimpong, ran a romance-scam money-laundering operation from 2019 with co-conspirators Shadrack Yaw Gyasi and Martin Misinu.
- Six victims, identified only as Victims A through F, were allegedly defrauded through fake romantic relationships built around inheritance and gold stories.
- Prosecutors allege Frimpong used a family-owned Chicago restaurant and shell companies to receive and move funds, later wiring proceeds to accounts in China, India and Ghana.
- Frimpong faces an 18-count federal indictment in the United States; he was arrested in Amsterdam in May 2026 and is fighting extradition.
- He denies wrongdoing and remains presumed innocent; the case is pending before US courts.
According to sources from GhanaWeb, a Ghanaian based media outlet, court documents unsealed in the United States detail how the Member of Parliament for Asante Akyem North, Ohene Kwame Frimpong, allegedly built a multi-year scheme to defraud romance-scam victims and launder the proceeds through a web of American bank accounts, shell companies and overseas wire transfers.
The filings, part of an 18-count federal indictment, allege that Frimpong, widely known as OK Frimpong, worked with co-conspirators Shadrack Yaw Gyasi, Martin Misinu and several others to defraud six victims identified in court papers only as Victims A, B, C, D, E and F.
An Investigation Dating to 2019
According to the indictment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began examining Frimpong’s activities in 2019. The inquiry eventually produced the 18-count indictment now before US courts, covering allegations of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege the scheme relied on staged online romances. Fraudsters posing as romantic partners persuaded victims to send large sums of money, often tied to fabricated stories involving inherited gold, diamonds or family fortunes trapped by supposed taxes and transfer fees.
The Chicago Restaurant Account
Court documents describe how, on or about July 21, 2020, Mr. Frimpong allegedly opened a bank account at GLCU in the name of New Grace Restaurants, a Chicago eatery he had inherited from his parents. Prosecutors allege the account was used to receive romance-scam proceeds.
About a month later, on August 26, 2020, Frimpong and Gyasi allegedly caused a victim identified as Victim C to wire $515,000 in fraudulent proceeds into that account.
Weeks after that, on August 22, 2020, Frimpong and a co-conspirator identified in the documents as “FA” allegedly opened a second account, this one at USB, in the name of a shell company called Grace Restaurants Ltd, registered in Illinois. On December 4, 2020, the pair allegedly caused Victim F to transfer $480,612 into that account.
Five days later, prosecutors allege, Frimpong and FA travelled to Chicago from outside the United States. The following day, the indictment alleges, they moved $200,026.85 and $200,031.15 out of the USB account to business bank accounts in China and India.
More Transfers From Victim C
The indictment describes a separate, larger series of transactions involving Victim C. On February 10, 2021, Frimpong allegedly travelled to Chicago with another co-conspirator, identified as “NF,” who is accused of opening a Chase Bank account in his or her own name — referred to in the filings as the JPMC Account — along with three further accounts tied to the alleged scheme.
Prosecutors allege that Victim C transferred $250,000 into the JPMC Account on February 25, 2021, and another $250,000 on March 3, 2021. Days later, Frimpong allegedly directed NF to withdraw $30,000 in cash and, separately, to buy Apple products as gifts, including an iPhone for Gyasi, with $5,875.20 spent at a Best Buy store using a card linked to the account.
Court papers allege that between July 2019 and April 2022, the co-conspirators obtained more than $2 million from Victim C alone by posing as a romantic partner named “Juliana Alina,” who claimed her father had owned a gold mine in Johannesburg and had left her gold bars she needed help selling.
Victims A, D and E
The indictment also details transfers allegedly linked to Victim A. In March 2021, Frimpong allegedly travelled to Chicago with a co-conspirator identified as “CA,” who opened accounts at Chase Bank in the name of a shell entity, AJ Plums LLC. Victim A allegedly wired $250,000 into one of these accounts in April 2021 and a further $250,000 in May 2021, with portions later moved into other accounts.
A further set of alleged transactions in 2022 involved Victims D and E. A co-conspirator identified as “MFN” allegedly travelled from the Netherlands to Chicago in November 2021 and opened accounts at BMO Harris Bank and Bank of America in the name of a fictitious company, Allsop LLC.
Prosecutors allege that between March and April 2022, Victims D and E transferred a combined $663,929 into these accounts, and that Frimpong directed MFN to move a portion of the funds — $167,210 — to a Ghana-based bank account he controlled.
Court documents allege MFN falsely told a Bank of America branch that Victim D was her stepfather in order to have a frozen account unblocked.
The Alleged Scripts Behind the Scams
Prosecutors allege the fraud relied on two recurring narratives. In Victim F’s case, the co-conspirators allegedly posed as a partner named “Hannah Garvey,” who claimed to be moving from New York to London because of a $40 million to $50 million inheritance in gold and diamonds requiring upfront fees. In Victim C’s case, the fictitious “Juliana Alina” persona centred on a gold mine inheritance from South Africa.
Arrest and Extradition Fight
Mr. Frimpong, who won Asante Akyem North as an independent candidate in the 2024 election with more than 70 percent of the vote, was arrested by Dutch security officials at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on May 10, 2026, shortly after his flight from Accra landed.
He was allegedly pulled from his seat, handcuffed and detained, according to accounts from Ghana’s Parliament, which confirmed his detention two days later.
His legal team has said the arrest warrant was issued on April 26, 2026, and that Frimpong is contesting extradition to the United States through Dutch courts. Ghana’s Majority Caucus in Parliament has said it will challenge any extradition attempt on Ghanaian soil under the country’s Extradition Act, 1960.
Frimpong has publicly denied the romance-scam allegations, saying Interpol informed him only of a money-laundering charge before his arrest. The US Department of Justice has declined to comment on the case.
Presumption of Innocence
The transactions outlined in the indictment form the basis of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering charges against Mr. Frimpong and his alleged co-conspirators. The case remains before US courts, and Frimpong is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
