A federal judge in Tennessee has sentenced two Ghanaian nationals for their roles in a sophisticated internet fraud and money laundering operation that defrauded multiple victims of over $2 million through romance scams and fake gold shipment schemes.
Wigbert Bandie, 34, received a 63-month prison sentence and must pay $2.18 million in restitution to 11 victims. His co-defendant, Adam Khadijah, 30, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment. Both convictions came in the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville before Judge Thomas A. Varlan.
The scheme, operating from June through December 2019, involved creating fake social media profiles to target victims with romance scams and false promises of gold shipments. In one notable case, Bandie posed as “Kimberly McIntosh,” an heiress to Singapore gold bars, defrauding a Knoxville resident of $73,550 through elaborate fake documentation.
Bandie pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while a third suspect, Mubarak Braimah, remains at large. Following his prison term, Bandie will serve three years of supervised release. The convicts faced multiple charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering.
