photo courtesy of Butler County Jail
An Ohio man who scammed at least a dozen people out of over $800,000 by pretending to be a Ghanaian prince was convicted in front of a jury for federal fraud on September 16.
Daryl Robert Harrison, known as Prince Daryl Attipoe to his victims, was convicted of three charges: wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and witness tampering. The fraudster faces a maximum of twenty years in federal prison upon his sentencing.
According to the Department of Justice, Harrison and his stepfather lied to investors by telling them that he was a prince who had “direct connections with these [mining and trucking] companies and that they could expect an investment return of 28 to 33 percent.”
Another avenue in which they scammed churchgoers out of money was by claiming they were both ministers who financially supported “religious services in various church facilities and private residences” throughout the Ohio and Colorado area to glean donations. The prosecutors on the case explained that they then continued to use the money to rent a home and buy numerous luxury cars and extensive hotel stays.
The prosecutors explained that Harrison then failed to pay back investors and planned to use the money for his own personal gain after soliciting it from people.
According to the indictment statement, Harrison and his stepfather “unjustly enrich themselves and PHOP by soliciting monies from investors using false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and converting those monies for defendants’ personal benefit and for the benefit of PHOP without the knowledge or authorization of the investors.”
The document continued to say that the fraudsters “failed to provide investors with interest payments, routinely terminated all communications with investors, ignored individual investor inquiries, and ignored demands from investors seeking the return of investment monies.”