New York, NY - September 28, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today the convictions of Anthony Nyame for stealing over $3.5 million from multiple victims. In one scheme, Nyame stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his victims, including the First Ghana Seventh Day Adventist Church in the Bronx, by inducing them into believing that his Wall Street based company, General Capital Corporation, had the ability to secure millions of dollars in loans. In a different scheme, Nyame stole over $2.5 from Villanova University through a cyber-attack.
Today, Nyame, of Bronx county, pleaded guilty in New York County Supreme Court to Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a Class “B” felony. Previously, on September 13, 2017, Nyame pleaded guilty to two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class “C” felony, and one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a Class “D” felony.
“It is simply appalling that anyone would choose to fleece universities and churches in order to line their own pockets. New Yorkers deserve to know that when they seek to grow their organization, there isn’t a fraudster lurking in the shadows. We’ll continue our work to uncover financial fraud -- and prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman.
Part of Nymae’s theft involved stealing $2.7 million dollars from Villanova University, through cybercrime. According to court documents and statements made by the prosecutor, Nyame’s sent a spoofed email to Villanova University’s payment department. The email caused an electronic wire payment of approximately $2.7 million dollars destined for a vendor of the University, to be redirected to Nyame’s bank account. Once Nyame received the wire, he transferred almost $200,000 out of the country before the bank could freeze the remaining balance.
According to the indictment and prior statements by the prosecutor, Nyame also convinced many of his unwitting victims into believing that his company could arrange for tens of millions of dollars in loans provided they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to collateralize the loans. In one case, Nyame allegedly promised to obtain a $30 million loan for a church located in the Bronx that was seeking to build a multi-family dwelling on its property. Instead of using the deposits to secure the promised loans, Nyame allegedly diverted monies from the church and other investors for his own personal use – including $71,000 in cash withdrawals and transfers to his personal bank account, $47,000 to pay for his Wall Street apartment, and an additional $26,000 for assorted personal items. Nyame also transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple companies and people around the world.
As part of Nyame’s loan scheme, he allegedly sent forged documents and fake emails to his victims that purported to come from the United States Treasury, including fake emails from the former Under Secretary David S. Cohen. The goal of the forged documents and fake emails was to convince the victims that the loans were delayed because they were in the process of being approved and verified by the U.S. Treasury.
Nyame will be sentenced concurrently on both guilty pleas to a minimum of 1 year in jail if he pays restitution of $800,000 to his victims to the victims of his loan scheme, or alternatively up to 3 to 9 years if he does not pay any restitution to his victims.
The Attorney General thanks Special Agent Thomas Brodowski of the United States Treasury, Office of the Inspector General, for his assistance in this investigation.
The case is being handled by Special Advisor to the Criminal Division Gary T. Fishman, with the assistance of Legal Analyst Jacques Courbe. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Jason Brown.
The Attorney General's investigation was conducted by Investigators Vincent Gisonti, and Stephen Pratt with the assistance of Frank Tirri under the direction of Supervising Investigators Michael Leahy and Sylvia Rivera and Deputy Chief John McManus. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Dominick Zarrella.