John Ackah Blay-Miezah’s elaborate and deceitful scams gained international attention as he swindled high-profile personalities, including presidents, businessmen, politicians, and ordinary people.
His story, chronicled in the book titled “ANANSI’S GOLD: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World” by Yepoka Yeebo, unfolds in the backdrop of Ghana’s economic crisis in the 1970s, with soaring inflation and dwindling cocoa production.
Portraying himself as an affluent businessman with connections and vast wealth, Blay-Miezah lured victims with tales of hidden riches left behind by Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
He claimed that Nkrumah had entrusted him to access tens of thousands of gold bars and immense sums of cash stored in Swiss accounts under strict conditions set by a Trust.
Blay-Miezah’s narrative raised suspicions, leaving doubts about the authenticity of his tale. However, his ability to manipulate and read people, honed from a young age in a coastal village, helped him become a skilled con artist.
A stint in prison exposed him to powerful elites and a radical chaplain, from whom he learned the art of projecting authority and affluence in his speech and mannerisms.
Blay-Miezah’s audacious schemes extended beyond Ghana, attracting fraud accusations in Liberia and drawing the attention of U.S security operatives. Throughout his exploits, he sold the illusion of liberation and the chance to reclaim African ancestral wealth, while in reality, he was swindling and looting from unsuspecting investors.
Despite being wanted for fraud and facing legal scrutiny, John Ackah Blay-Miezah continued to deceive and evade authorities, leaving a trail of loss and deception in his wake.
“He’s full of lies,” a former Ghanaian diplomat said to U.S. prosecutors.
Not only were John Ackah Blay-Miezah’s investment schemes fake, but they were also incredibly intricate, leading his American victims to view them as speculative investments, and others realizing that any returns would likely take years to materialize.
Blay-Miezah was known for his lavish lifestyle, often seen wearing tailored suits, smoking cigars, and driving a white Rolls-Royce. He surrounded himself with a team of security personnel, reputedly former special forces soldiers.
Over a span of 15 years, Blay-Miezah executed these fraudulent schemes, deceiving numerous individuals and amassing millions of dollars. One of his American partners, for example, defrauded at least 300 people, resulting in a total scam of $15 million.
His crimes made him a fugitive, and at one point, a disgruntled investor even traveled to Accra in an attempt to personally confront and reclaim his investment, resorting to violence.
Blay-Miezah’s deceit eventually caught up with him, and he was indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud. While the Ghanaian government showed willingness to extradite him, he managed to escape from a prison in Pennsylvania.
In 1992, John Ackah Blay-Miezah passed away while under house arrest. Even in death, he caused confusion among his family members by convincing them of a non-existent $15 billion stashed in a foreign bank, further illustrating the depth of his deception and manipulation.