A United States federal court has sentenced a 41-year-old Ghanaian man to 85 months in prison for his involvement in a transnational cybercrime network that defrauded victims of more than $100 million through romance scams and business email compromise schemes.
Derrick Van Yeboah, also known as "Van," was sentenced on Monday, July 27, by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian after pleading guilty in March 2026 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. prosecutors identified him as one of the leaders of the Ghana-based criminal syndicate.
Announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton described the operation as more than a financial crime, saying it preyed on the trust and emotional vulnerability of its victims.
“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.
According to court documents, the syndicate operated mainly from Ghana and employed two sophisticated fraud methods. One involved building fake romantic relationships online to persuade victims to send money, while the other relied on business email compromise schemes in which fraudsters impersonated company executives to trick businesses into making fraudulent payments.
Investigators said the network targeted dozens of victims, including many elderly men and women who believed they were engaged in genuine online relationships. The criminal proceeds, estimated at more than $100 million, were later laundered and transferred to West Africa.
Prosecutors held Van Yeboah personally responsible for more than $10 million in fraud proceeds. Court records show that between 2019 and 2020, he used fake identities to convince women in Ohio and Delaware to transfer approximately $4.2 million into bank accounts controlled by the syndicate.
Authorities also connected him to a separate scam in 2024 in which he convinced a man in North Carolina to send about $123,000 after falsely claiming he needed funds to finance a parent's funeral and recover gold and diamonds from Italy.
In addition to the 85-month prison term, the court ordered Van Yeboah to serve two years of supervised release after completing his sentence. He was also directed to forfeit $10,149,429.17.
Van Yeboah was extradited from Ghana to the United States on August 7, 2025, following a joint operation involving the U.S. Department of Justice and several Ghanaian institutions, including the Office of the Attorney-General, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Police Service's INTERPOL Unit, the Cyber Security Authority, and the National Intelligence Bureau.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York through its Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
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