By
Fatimah Idera
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams had announced that FREEMAN CELVIN, a/k/a “Celvin Freeman,” has been sentenced to 78 months for his participation in fraud,money laundering and conspiracy based in Ghana involving the theft of millions of dollars.
Celvin was previously arrested on February 17, 2021, and has been detained since his arrest. On March 30, 2022, and was convicted after a jury trial of all seven counts against him.
The U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Freeman Celvin used an auto business in New Jersey as a front to launder millions of dollars in fraud proceeds to scam artists in Ghana.The online scams perpetrated by Celvin’s partners in Ghana were lucrative and callous, as they targeted elderly men and women and tricked them into transferring their life savings to the defendant, who then took his laundering fee and sent the money abroad.”
Calvin’s activities was aided by a criminal establishment based in Ghana herein referred to as the Enterprise. The Enterprise committed to trick and deceive businesses into wiring funds into accounts, scams by using electronic messages sent via email, text messaging, or online dating websites. Once members of the Enterprise had gained the trust of the victims using the fake identity, they used false pretenses to cause the victims to wire money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when in fact the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
Celvin received fraud proceeds from victims of the Enterprise in personal bank accounts as well as business bank accounts for his company Freeman Autos LLC, a company purportedly involved in, among other things, automobile sales.The defendant also received fraud proceeds from other U.S.-based members of the Enterprise either by wire transfer or cash deliveries.
He received fraud proceeds and took out a percentage fee and then withdrew, transported, and laundered those fraud proceeds to other members of the Enterprise abroad in Ghana.
Celvin Freeman controlled more than eight bank accounts that had deposits that totaled over approximately $5.7 million during the period. The vast majority of those deposits consisted of large wire transfers and check or cash deposits from U.S.-based individuals and entities that were victims of the Enterprise’s fraud schemes.
However, Celvin, 48, of East Orange, New Jersey, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and further ordered to forfeit $290,604.15. CELVIN’s co-conspirators, Fred Asante and Lord Aning were previously sentenced to 108 months and 24 months in prison, respectively.
