Man Who Helped Northwest Iowan Launder Nearly $1 Million Sentenced To Prison

Sioux City, Iowa — A man who helped a northwest Iowa man launder nearly a million dollars fraudulently received through the CARES act has been sentenced to over three years in federal prison.

According to the United States’ Attorney’s office, 31-year-old Benjamin Sakyi of Dumfries, Virginia, originally from the country of Ghana, pleaded guilty in February to one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Evidence showed that he received over $900,000 in fraudulently-obtained funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or (“CARES”) Act at three different financial institutions in the names of two Virginia corporations, and then transferred the funds elsewhere.

Sakyi received the CARES Act funds from a Northwest Iowa man, Donald Franklin Trosin. Over 20 fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications were submitted to the Small Business Administration in the name of Trosin and another individual at Minnesota and Iowa financial institutions. One of the applications falsely represented that Trosin had 120 employees on his payroll and over $5 million in payroll expenses when, in truth, Trosin did not operate a business at all. Trosin then transferred much of the proceeds of the fraudulently obtained loans to Sakyi, who transferred the funds elsewhere.

Sakyi will serve 40 months in federal prison and will have to pay over a million dollars in restitution. There is no parole in the federal system. Trosin received a 40-month prison sentence in July 2021 for his role in the money laundering conspiracy.

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