The Ohio–Ghana romance conspiracies: ten defendants, seven years
Between May and June 2025 the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio unsealed charges against ten people over wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that ran from December 2017 through March 2024. Prosecutors say the defendants used romance fraud schemes, frequently against elderly Americans, and shared the proceeds with co-conspirators in Ghana. By May 2026 eight of the ten had been sentenced, to between 12 and 108 months, one had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentence, and a further defendant had been charged in a second superseding indictment.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States, Ghana
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Romance scams, Business email compromise
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
The facts, as recorded
- Charges against Otuo Amponsah, Anna Amponsah, Hannah Adom, Portia Joe, Abdoul Issaka Assimiou and Dwayne Asafo Adjei were unsealed on 13 May 2025.
- A superseding indictment unsealed on 4 June 2025 charged David Onyinye Abuanekwu, Dwayne Asafo Adjei, Nancy Adom, Eric Aidoo and Nader Wasif.
- The alleged conduct runs from December 2017 through March 2024.
- Charges are conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
- Prosecutors describe romance fraud schemes often targeting elderly individuals in the United States.
- Funds obtained from victims were allegedly shared with co-conspirators in the Republic of Ghana and elsewhere.
- Investigated by the FBI.
- The two lists of names overlap: Dwayne Asafo Adjei appears in both the 13 May and 4 June 2025 announcements, so ten distinct people were charged across them.
- By a US Attorney's Office announcement of 14 May 2026, as reported by the Ghana News Agency and the Ghanaian Times, Dwayne Asafo Adjei, Nancy Adom and Eric Aidoo had each been sentenced to 71 months in prison after pleading guilty, with restitution of $372,943, $1,079,559 and $668,228 respectively.
- In the same announcement Otuo Amponsah and Anna Amponsah were each reported as sentenced to 108 months, Portia Joe to 51 months, and Hannah Adom to 71 months, after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
- Nader Wasif was reported as sentenced to 12 months after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.
- Abdoul Issaka Assimiou was reported as having pleaded guilty and awaiting sentencing; the sources reviewed give no outcome for David Onyinye Abuanekwu.
- A further Ghanaian citizen, Kelvin Asmah, was reported as recently arrested after being charged in a second superseding indictment.
Most of the defendants have now pleaded guilty and been sentenced; the caveat at the end sets out who. Anyone whose case is not yet resolved is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Why this case matters
Ten people, across two indictments, over six years of alleged conduct. Romance fraud is not one person with a fake photograph; it is a division of labour, and this case shows the shape of it.
Some defendants are alleged to have run the relationships. Others are charged with money laundering, receiving funds and moving them on. The proceeds were allegedly shared with co-conspirators in Ghana, which means the people the victims spoke to and the people who ultimately took the money were, at least in part, on different continents.
The domestic half
The detail worth dwelling on is that a substantial number of the defendants were in Ohio. Romance fraud aimed at Americans usually needs American bank accounts, because a victim asked to wire money overseas on the first request tends to hesitate, while a domestic transfer to a person with an ordinary-sounding name does not.
That domestic layer is where prosecutions most often start, and it is also where the boundary between offender and victim gets blurry. Some people in these roles were recruited through a romance of their own. That does not make it lawful: receiving and forwarding criminal proceeds is an offence in most jurisdictions regardless of what the person believed. See money mule.
What it tells you about the scheme
If someone you met online asks you to receive money and pass it on, for a business, for a customs payment, because their account is frozen, that is not a favour and it is not a job. It is the role several of these defendants are charged with filling, and it carries criminal liability of its own.
The caveat
Proven by guilty plea and sentence, as reported from a May 2026 US Attorney’s Office announcement: eight of the ten people charged, with sentences from 12 months (Nader Wasif, obstruction of justice) to 108 months (Otuo Amponsah and Anna Amponsah). Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentence: Abdoul Issaka Assimiou. Not established in the sources reviewed: any outcome for David Onyinye Abuanekwu, and anything about Kelvin Asmah beyond the report that he was charged in a second superseding indictment, which is an allegation. As of 10 October 2026 no later outcome was found in the sources reviewed.
Sources
- Justice Department Highlights Enforcement Efforts Protecting Older Americans from Transnational Fraud Schemes in Recognition of 2025 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: Defendant names, dates, charges, the period of alleged conduct and the Ghana connection.
- Ghanaians indicted in the United States for romance scams. Ghana News Agency. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The May 2026 US Attorney's Office announcement as reported: sentences and restitution for Adjei, Nancy Adom, Aidoo, Wasif, Otuo and Anna Amponsah, Joe and Hannah Adom, Assimiou awaiting sentence, and Kelvin Asmah's new charge.
- 9 Ghanaians sentenced to 50 years in USA over romance fraud. Ghanaian Times. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The same announcement of 14 May 2026, including Anna Amponsah's and Hannah Adom's restitution.