By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 18 – Fred Asante is detained on wire fraud and other charges; he filed a motion for reconsideration of his detention.
On October 4 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it.
The Assistant US Attorney emphasized that Asante had previously fled to Ghana, and was arrested with case in his (luxury) car.
He said the Asante's wife appeared to be involved in transactions and, seemingly, SBA fraud.
The defense said that Asante's business of moving frozen food to Ghana in containers required him to deal with many people.
Judge Rakoff was unconvinced and ruled that Asante would continue detained.
On May 18, 2022, on a guideline of 121 to 151 months, Judge Rakoff sentenced Asante to 108 months. Afterward the prosecutors said "FRED ASANTE was sentenced to 108 months for his role as the top U.S.-based money launderer for a criminal enterprise based in the Republic of Ghana (“Ghana”) that engaged in fraud schemes that stole tens of millions of dollars from victims across the United States. These fraud schemes included business email compromises, romance scams targeting elderly victims, and fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. ASANTE was arrested on February 17, 2021 in Virginia and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on February 16, 2022 before District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed today’s sentence."
The over all case is US v. Appiedu, 21-cr-88 (Rakoff)
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