A United States federal court has sentenced a Ghanaian man, Derrick Van Yeboah, to seven years and one month in prison after convicting him over his involvement in a transnational online fraud syndicate that swindled victims of more than $100 million through romance scams and business email compromise (BEC) schemes.
The 41-year-old, popularly known as “Van”, was handed an 85-month custodial sentence on July 28, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. He had earlier pleaded guilty on March 5, 2026, to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Apart from the prison term, the court directed Van Yeboah to surrender $10,149,429.17 in proceeds traced to the criminal enterprise and ordered that he remain under supervised release for two years after completing his sentence.
American prosecutors identified Van Yeboah as a key figure in a Ghana-based criminal organisation that carried out elaborate internet fraud operations targeting individuals and businesses across the United States.
Reacting to the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said romance fraud extended beyond financial loss because perpetrators deliberately manipulated victims’ emotions and confidence for personal gain.
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He noted that Van Yeboah and his associates exploited trust, loneliness and legitimate business relationships to steal more than $100 million, adding that the sentence demonstrated the determination of U.S. authorities to pursue international criminal networks preying on Americans.
Court filings revealed that the syndicate operated largely from Ghana using two principal methods. One involved creating fake online profiles to establish fraudulent romantic relationships before persuading victims to transfer money. The second relied on business email compromise attacks, where fraudsters impersonated company executives and instructed employees to divert corporate funds into accounts controlled by the network.
Investigators said the organisation targeted dozens of victims, including many elderly men and women, before laundering more than $100 million in illicit proceeds through West Africa.
Prosecutors held Van Yeboah directly responsible for obtaining more than $10 million through romance fraud.
Evidence presented in court showed that between 2019 and 2020, he assumed false identities to deceive women living in Ohio and Delaware into transferring about $4.2 million to accounts linked to the criminal syndicate.
In a separate incident in 2024, authorities said he convinced a man in North Carolina to send approximately $123,000 after falsely claiming he required financial assistance for a parent’s funeral and to retrieve gold and diamonds allegedly being held in Italy.
Van Yeboah was extradited from Ghana to the United States on August 7, 2025, through a coordinated operation involving the U.S. Department of Justice and Ghanaian authorities, including the Office of the Attorney-General, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Police Service INTERPOL Unit, the Cyber Security Authority and the National Intelligence Bureau.
