Derrick Van Yeboah, also known as “Van,” a 41-year-old Ghanaian national, was sentenced on July 28, 2026, to 85 months (just over seven years) in federal prison for his involvement in an international criminal organization that stole more than $100 million from victims through romance scams and business email compromises.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in the Southern District of New York imposed the sentence after Yeboah pleaded guilty on March 5, 2026, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In addition to the prison term, he was ordered to serve two years of supervised release and to forfeit $10,149,429.17,the amount he is held responsible for personally stealing through romance scams.
According to court documents and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Yeboah was a member of a Ghana-based criminal enterprise that targeted vulnerable older Americans. Members of the group posed as romantic partners online, building trust over time before persuading victims to send money or help launder funds from other scams. The group also conducted business email compromises to trick companies into wiring funds. Proceeds were then laundered to West Africa.
Yeboah personally carried out many of the romance scams by impersonating fake romantic partners. In one example from 2019–2020, he used false identities to defraud a woman in Ohio and another in Delaware of approximately $4.2 million. In another case, he convinced a North Carolina man to transfer about $123,000 by claiming he needed money for a parent’s funeral and to recover gold and diamonds from Italy.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton stated: “Romance scammers do not simply steal money,they weaponize 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 organizations that target Americans.”
Yeboah was extradited from Ghana to the United States on August 7, 2025, with assistance from Ghanaian authorities, including the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Police Service,INTERPOL, the Cyber Security Authority, and the National Intelligence Bureau, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI.
Source : U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
