U.S. SHOULD PROBE OMAN GHANA SCAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403640047-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 47
• Publication Date: April 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403640047-7
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
2 April 1986
Unanswered questions
U.S. should probe
Oman Ghana scam
By Claude Lewis
Mgidr r MWW Board
The Oman Ghana Trust Fund, ac-
cording to one local investigator,
represents a "documentable" loss in
the United States alone of more than
$100 million. That is a sum that far
exceeds initial reports concerning
the amount of money taken from
American investors by two alleged
smooth-talking con artists.
The saga of the Oman Ghana Trust
Pond is a fascinating story of mys-
tery. money and international in.
trigue. Behind the headlines, how-
ever, is another story of the failure
of an informed U.S, government to
take action to stop the alleged fraud
that has broken at least one mar-
riage, led one investor to a nervous
breakdown, and rained misery, de-
spair and near-poverty upon scores
of Philadelphians who collectively
lost more than $15 million.
According to Joe Casey, chief of
the district attorney office's eco-
nomic crimes unit, for several years
the FBI has 'been aware that twb
men, John Ackah Blay-Miezah of
Ghana, West Africa, and Robert Ellis,
a Philadelphian, have been the prin-
cipal operators of the trust fund that
may have fleeced millions of dollars
from people in many nations.
The FBI had an arrest warrant for
. Blay-Miezah for a $250,000 theft at
Girard Bank in 1972. But in 1985,
while the FBI was still investigating
the fund, the warrant was dropped.
The FBI is said to have documents
conthe fraud that cerning 4-f high. stacked
up Would e
the
bureau has taken little or no action
to protect citizens from the silken
grasp of the Oman Ghana Trust Fund
operators.
An FBI spokesman argued that
search warrants of the Police Depart.
ment were "flawed," and therefore
the investigation was corrupted.,
The U.S. Customs Service refused
to comment. Customs agents have
been concerned about a money-laun-
dering operation connected with the
has not been permit.
ted tto Blay-Miezah in a jail cell
in Ghana where he faces charges of
"economic sabotage."
Robert Ellis, Blay-Mieaah's U.S. op-
erative, is free on bail. He spun a
fascinating tale to authorities involy.
ing billions, but continues to insist
that though no one has been paid in
the 14 years, the trust has existed,
everyone will be paid eventually.
The latest proposed payoff date: April
14, 1986.
The district attorney and a team of
Philadelphia police officers uncov-
ered the fraud only eight days after a
complaint from investor Barry Gins-
berg and his associates, who have
lost more than S2 million to Blay-
Miezah and Ellis. Ginsburg was
promised a $1S0 million payoff.
Hints of CIA involvement are mak-
ing a roan among o c a s.
"If we cou unravel the scam in
weeks, what has the FBI been doing
for 14 years?" asked one investigator.
District Attorney Ronald Castille
characterized the trust as "the larg-
est fraud in the history of ... Phila.
delphia."
Steve Wehner, deputy chief of the
U.S. attorney's frauds section, offered
only an icy "no comment," when I
asked about allegations by officials
of the district attorney's office that
IRS,oCustoms and enci the
e FBI,hnotwto
waste an hour on the investigation.
There will be no prosecutions..,
The case is enormously compli.
cated with many unanswered ques-
tions. Among them:
? Where is the bulk of the more
than $100 million that was fleeced
from investors?
? Why was little effective action
taken to stop the fraud, especially
since FBI files indicate that former
U.S. ambassador to Ghana, Shirley
Temple Black, cabled from Ghana
some 10 years ago, warning about the
scam? As late as January 1986, Ellis
was still attl'acting Investors. (Mrs.
Black called me from California last
week to say she could not comment
on the record because the matter is
in court.)
? Why are local and federal offi-
cials at odds over this case and why
does the district attorney's office
flatly charge that federal agents are
disinterested in getting to the bot-
tom of the fraud?
These are few questions that lead
some investigators to believe Blav-
about 60, an lis, 42, may
extremely well connect end Der-
a s as n1a as the IAcom-
plexity o the securities `scam have
caused investigators to believe the
pair are close to the powerful.
The public remains at great finan-
cial risk as long as the Oman Ghana
Trust Fund continues. Meanwhile,
customs officials, the FBI and the
fraud section of the U.S. attorney's
office are in bitter disagreement
with local officials.
As puzzling as the trust-fund opera-
tion is, the biggest question of all is
why federal officials have not moved
forthrightly to protect the public by
bringing an end to a costly and de-
structive multimillion dollar inter-
national bunco operation.
if affidavits concerning the trust
fund in the district attorney's office
are true, the IRS should conduct a
criminal investigation into millions
in uncollected taxes, customs offi-
cers should examine money-launder-
ing operations and the FBI should
assist officials nationwide in ending
the scam. If ever a can cried out for
a federal grand jury investigation,
the alleged ripoff by the Oman Gha-
na Trust Fund seems to be It.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403640047-7