Derrick Van Yeboah
Ghana national Derrick Van Yeboah, popularly known as Van, has been sentenced to 85 months’ imprisonment in the United States for his role in an international criminal organisation that stole more than $100 million from victims via romance scams and business email compromises.
Van Yeboah had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud before US District Judge Arun Subramanian on March 5, 2026 and was awaiting sentencing.
He was held responsible for more than $10 million he stole from victims via his romance scams.
In addition to the jail term, Van Yeboah was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $10,149,429.17 in forfeiture.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, who announced the latest development, said romance scammers do not simply steal money—they weaponise trust.
“Van Yeboah and his co-conspirators exploited trust, loneliness, and legitimate business relationships to steal more than $100 million. Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of these calculated frauds and our commitment to pursuing international criminal organisations that target Americans,” he said.
Court documents indicate that Van Yeboah was a member of a criminal organisation primarily based in Ghana that committed romance scams and business email compromises against individuals and businesses located across the United States.
The documents point out that many of the conspiracy’s victims were vulnerable older men and women who were tricked into believing that they were in online romantic relationships with persons who were, in fact, fake identities assumed by members of the conspiracy.
Once members of the conspiracy had gained the trust of their victims, they deceived those victims into sending their money to the enterprise or into helping them launder funds from other victims, the documents stated.
“The conspirators also committed business email compromises to trick and deceive businesses into wiring funds to the enterprise. In total, the conspiracy stole and laundered more than $100 million from dozens of victims. After stealing the money, the fraud proceeds were then laundered to West Africa.”
Court documents further point out that Van Yeboah personally perpetrated many of the romance scams by impersonating fake romantic partners in communications with victims.
They state, for instance that, in 2019 and 2020, Van Yeboah assumed fake identities to engage in romance scams with an Ohio woman and a Delaware woman and induced them into transferring approximately $4.2 million to accounts belonging to members of the conspiracy.
“Similarly, in 2024, Van Yeboah assumed a fake identity to engage in a romance scam with a North Carolina man and induced him into transferring approximately $123,000 to accounts belonging to members of the conspiracy by claiming that he needed funds for both a parent’s funeral and to recover gold and diamonds from Italy.”
Van Yeboah’s arrest, extradition and prosecution was through a collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and Ghana’s Attorney General.
Others include the Economic and Organised Crime Office, the Ghana Police Service – INTERPOL, Cyber Security Authority, and the National Intelligence Bureau, which all provided significant assistance to ensure Van Yeboah’s extradition.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak