A US citizen and a Ghanda national are going to trial over allegations of fraud and money laundering through cryptocurrency. According to prosecutors, over $600,000 was stolen from an unnamed Washington D.C. university. The two men pulled off a successful business email compromise scheme and then laundered the money using cryptocurrency and other denominations.
The case involves Charles Wilson Stout, who was found in Ocala, Fla. and David Kakra Mensah, who was found in Oregon. David was a Ghanda national who recently entered the country.
The FBI stated that Mensah was a member of an organized crime group that targets US citizens through sophisticated romance schemes. The group also works to launder money for other criminals.
The attack was carried out over several months, starting with an attack by their criminal organization that let them gain access to a university email account. They then made shell organizations under the university name.
According to a series of emails, the organization pressured Stout into opening up multiple bank accounts and accounts for popular cryptocurrency exchanges. He essentially acted as the middleman and took the fall for the majority of the organization.
He could “end up in jail for money laundering,” he states in the email.
He opened up a bank account for a fake corporation and made a fraudulent wire transfer to the tune of $603,029.
“They subsequently transferred portions of the fraudulent proceeds into those accounts to conceal their true nature, location, source, ownership, and control,” said the US Department of Justice.
The duo was indicted at a federal court in Pittsburgh and currently faces a fine of up to half a million dollars and up to 20 years in prison. Investigations are being made into the organization.