Today, Mona Faiz Montrage pleaded guilty to conspiracy to receive stolen money before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. This announcement was made by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who stated that Montague was involved in laundering the proceeds of a series of romance scams.
It has been alleged in the Indictment, as well as in public filings and court proceedings, that from 2013 to 2019, MONTRAGE was involved in a criminal organization based in West Africa. The group was responsible for a range of fraudulent activities against individuals and businesses in the United States, including romance scams.
The Enterprise had targeted vulnerable, older individuals who lived alone in their romance scam operations. By sending fake emails, text messages, and social media messages, the victims were deceived into believing that they were in romantic relationships with someone who had a fake identity assumed by members of the Enterprise.
The group known as the Enterprise used deceitful tactics to gain the trust of their victims by pretending to be in a romantic relationship with them. Once they had gained their victim’s trust, they then persuaded them to transfer money to bank accounts that the victims believed were under the control of their supposed romantic partners. However, in reality, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
MONTRAGE is a well-known Ghanaian personality who gained popularity as an influencer on Instagram, where she went by the username “Hajia4Reall.” Her profile once boasted around 3.4 million followers, making her one of the top 10 most followed profiles in Ghana.
MONTRAGE received money from multiple victims of romance frauds. The members of the Enterprise deceived these victims into sending money by using various pretenses. Some of the pretenses used were payments to transport gold to the U.S. from overseas, payments to resolve a fake FBI investigation, and payments to assist a fake U.S. Army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.
According to the court, MONTRAGE had control over certain bank accounts that received more than $2 million in fraudulent funds. MONTRAGE, who is 31 years old and from Accra, Ghana, pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive stolen money, which can result in a maximum prison sentence of five years. As part of the agreement, MONTRAGE has agreed to forfeit $2,164,758.41 and make restitution in the same amount. The decision on MONTRAGE’s sentence will be made by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, who has the authority to determine the appropriate punishment for this crime.
It was reported that Mr Williams spoke highly of the exceptional work carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case is currently being handled by the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit of the Office, with the prosecution being led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mitzi Steiner and Kevin Mead.
Story by Obaapa Janee
