Famous Ghanaian Social Media influencer and singer, Mona Faiz Montage, known as Hajia4real, has been charged and extradited from the UK to the USA.
The singer has been charged for her role in a series of romance schemes and for laundering the proceeds of those schemes.
Montage was arrested in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2022, and was extradited from the United Kingdom on May 12, 2023.
Hajia4real will be presented before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, to whom the case is assigned, later today.
She 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.
Montage 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.
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 Montage for her role in a series of romance schemes and for laundering the proceeds of those schemes.
As to one victim, Montage used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone.
Montage sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that she and the victim had been married in Ghana.
The victim sent Montage approximately 82 wire transfers totaling approximately $89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with her father’s farm in Ghana.
In total, Montage controlled bank accounts that received over S2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.