FBI: GHANIAN INFLUENCER WITH 3.4 MILLION “FOLLOWERS” at one time ON INSTAGRAM, CHARGED FOR ROLE IN ROMANCE SCHEME AND EXTRADITED FROM UK TO US

Posted on May 16, 2023 by John Bailey

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Mona Faiz Montrage Received Over $2 Million in Fraud Proceeds and Pretended to Marry One Victim to Further the Fraud Scheme.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a six-count Indictment charging MONA FAIZ MONTRAGE for her role in a series of romance schemes and for laundering the proceeds of those schemes.

MONTRAGE was arrested in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2022, and was extradited from the United Kingdom on May 12, 2023. MONTRAGE will be presented before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, to whom the case is assigned, Monday.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Mona Faiz Montrage was a member of a criminal conspiracy that specifically targeted older Americans through romance scams. These scams can be both financially and emotionally devastating for vulnerable victims. Thanks to the efforts of our law enforcement partners, Montrage was arrested abroad and has been brought to the United States to face justice.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said:

“We alleged Monday that Ms. Montrage participated in multiple romance scams – often targeting elderly victims – resulting in more than $2 million in fraudulent funds under her control. Romance scams – especially those that target older individuals – are of major concern. The FBI will be tireless in our efforts to hold fraudsters accountable in the criminal justice system.”

As alleged in the Indictment and other publicly filed materials:[1]

From at least in or about 2013 through in or about 2019, MONTRAGE was a member of a criminal enterprise (the “Enterprise”) based in West Africa that committed a series of frauds against individuals and businesses in the United States, including romance scams.

Many of the Enterprise’s romance scam victims were vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone.

The Enterprise frequently conducted the romance scams by sending the victims emails, text messages, and social media messages that deceived the victims into believing that they were in romantic relationships with a person who had, in fact, a fake identity assumed by members of the Enterprise. Once members of the Enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under false pretenses, to transfer 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.

MONTRAGE is a Ghanaian public figure who rose to fame as an influencer through her Instagram profile, under the username “Hajia4Reall,” which at one point had approximately 3.4 million Instagram followers and was among the top 10 profiles with the most followers in Ghana.

MONTRAGE received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money. Among the false pretenses used to induce victims to send money to MONTRAGE were (i) payments to transport gold to the United States from overseas; (ii) payments to resolve a fake FBI unemployment investigation; and (iii) payments to assist a fake United States army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.

As to one victim, MONTRAGE used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone. MONTRAGE sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that MONTRAGE and the victim had been married in Ghana. The victim sent MONTRAGE approximately 82 wire transfers totaling approximately $89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with MONTRAGE’s father’s farm in Ghana.

In total, MONTRAGE controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.

* * *

Photo: Wikipedia

MONTRAGE, 30, of Accra, Ghana, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and one count of money laundering, each of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

MONTRAGE is also charged with one count of receipt of stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to receive stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of MONTRAGE will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the FBI. Mr. Williams also thanked the United States Marshals Services, the National Extradition Unit, United States Customs and Border Protection, and the FBI Legal Attaché in London for their assistance in the investigation. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division provided significant assistance in securing the defendant’s extradition from the United Kingdom.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mitzi Steiner and Kevin Mead are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

IMPROVISED IMMIGRANT SOLUTION: LATIMER OUTLINES HIS HOUSING OVERFLOW OF NYC IMMIGRANTS PLAN: 1. NEW ASYLUM COURT 2. TEMPORARY RESIDENCE ONLY. 3. RIGHT TO WORK. 4. COUNTY POLICE MONITORING

Posted on May 16, 2023 by John Bailey

COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER OUTLINES HOW HE BELIEVES IMMIGRANT OVERFLOW FROM NYC SHOULD BE HANDLED IN THIS CLIP FROM HIS MONDAY AFTERNOON BRIEFING YESTERDAY. HE BELIEVES THE COURT SHOULD HAVE JURISDICTION OVER ALL 7 COUNTIES IN THE MID-HUDSON REGION. HE EXPLAINS IN THIS 11 MINUTE FOLLOW UP TO HIS STATEMENT ON SATURDAY. TO SEE THE CLIP CLICK ON THE WHITE ARROW ABOVE.

The highlights: County Executive George Latimer in his Weekly Westchester Briefing introduced his solution to what must be done to house immigrants in an orderly manner in Westchester and, he said surrounding counties in the mid-Hudson region.

He called for

Swift establishment of an Asylum Court to determine if the overflow of immigrants New York City is seeking to place in Westchester and surrounding counties were eligible for asylum.
If asylum was granted, the residences had to be temporary.
Any of the overflow of immigrants New York City is seeking to be housed should be allowed to work and get paid jobs.
Westchester County Police would establish monitoring of the places were residents were temporarily placed to allay the neighbors of the placement facilities chosen of fear of the temporary residents.

The establishment of the court he suggests would appear to have to have either approval of the New York State government and perhaps congress in Washington (which has not acted on these immigration issues in two years.

Mr. Latimer suggested that justices for such a court as he suggests could come out of retirement, or present judges could be trained in immigration law.

GEORGE LATIMER MONDAY “WESTCHESTER WEEKLY BRIEFING” MAY 15 LIVE ON TAPE PRIME TIME LATIMER EVERY WEEK, REBROADCAST 24/7 ON WPCNR.COM & WWW.WPCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG YOUR “LATIMER NEWS NETWORK”

Posted on May 15, 2023 by John Bailey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82M3NWS250Y

NY NYC ECONOMIC REPORT–JOBS RETURN TO NYC 5 MONTHS INTO 2023: SHOWS, RESTAURANTS, CONSTRUCTION, TOURISM LAG

Posted on May 15, 2023 by John Bailey

Office of the New York State Comptroller News

May 12, 2023

DiNAPOLI: NYC HAS RECOVERED NEARLY ALL PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS EXCEPT RETAIL, RESTAURANTS, CONSTRUCTION TOURISM

New York City has recovered 99.4% of private sector jobs it lost in the pandemic, but unevenly across key industries, according to an analysis released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“The city’s job recovery is good news,” DiNapoli said. “We are seeing strength in the securities, transportation and warehousing and office sectors, but retail, restaurants, construction and tourism continue to lag the national recovery. We need these sectors, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers, to also regain their full pre-pandemic strength to ensure the city’s economic recovery is more robust and inclusive of all New Yorkers.”

Comptroller DiNapoli monitors several industries vital to the city’s comeback and provides monthly updates on the New York City Industry Sector Dashboards, which he launched last year. Key findings across the arts, entertainment and recreation, construction, office, restaurants, retail, securities, tourism and transportation and warehousing sectors include:

Arts, Entertainment and Recreation 85%

The arts, entertainment and recreation sector saw an uptick in employment in March of 2023.
The sector has recovered only about 85% of pre-pandemic jobs, lagging the national job recovery rate for the sector of 96.4%.
Broadway reopened in September 2021 and makes up one of the largest shares of arts jobs but has been slow to come back. Attendance exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time in January of 2023, but has since remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Restaurants 95.5%

As of March 2023, the restaurant sector has recovered 95.5% of pre-pandemic jobs, slightly below the rest of the state at 97.3%, and the nation, which has already fully recovered.
At the height of the pandemic, restaurants lost 73% of jobs compared to 22% in the rest of the private sector.

Retail 87%

Retailers have only regained 87.4% of jobs in New York City compared to the nation which fully recovered its retail jobs as of March 2023.
The retail sector saw a 33% drop in jobs between March and April 2020 due to pandemic and mandatory closures of non-essential retail businesses.
The city’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 financial plan does not expect the sector to recover its pandemic job losses before 2027.

Tourism 15% OFF PREPANDEMIC ECONOMY

The sector has yet to recovery nationally, and tourism employment in the city is still nearly 15% below the pre-pandemic level at the end of the third quarter in 2022.
Hotel occupancy was about 74% in 2022, far below pre-pandemic levels.

Construction DOWN 8% OF ITS PREPANDEMIC PACE –RISING INTEREST RATES HURTING RIGHT NOW

As of March 2023, the construction sector has yet to regain 8% of its pre-pandemic jobs. Year-to-date activity in 2023 lags the same period last year, although construction activity was strong in 2022.
At the onset of the pandemic, the construction sector lost 46% of its jobs compared to only 22% for the private sector, as New York State paused nonessential construction.
Over the last year, the sector has been hit by the rising interest rate environment influenced by the Federal Reserve’s actions to combat high levels of inflation.

Securities IN THE MONEY

The securities sector did not see a notable drop in employment at the onset of the pandemic, as employees were able to shift to remote work.
While the sector has experienced fluctuations in employment, job growth in the city continues to surpass that of the rest of the state. The sector is currently 6.4% larger than in 2019.
Sector profits reached $25.8 billion in 2022, 55.8% less than the prior year.

Transportation and Warehousing

The sector has recovered pandemic job losses despite being hard hit at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employment growth was especially strong in warehousing and storage, and courier and messenger services, due to increased demand for e-commerce.
The Port of New York and New Jersey surpassed Los Angeles and Long Beach, California to become the biggest port by number of large shipping containers.

Office

The office sector, which includes the information, financial and real estate, and professional and business services industries regained pandemic job losses by January 2022.
As of March 2023, jobs in the sector were almost 4% above the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
Workers continue to return to the office, with the latest data showing an office occupancy rate of nearly 60% on peak days such as Tuesdays. However, concerns over commercial office space linger as vacancy rates remained at 22.2% in the first quarter of 2023.

These dashboards follow a series of reports DiNapoli’s office released over the past two years on the effect of the pandemic on these sectors.

Job levels April 23