The Deadlines

GUILTY BEFORE PROVEN INNOCENT: UNITED STATES V. NAFIS QUAYE & SUNNA SEPETU

From the beginning of this case, a familiar tactic often used by prosecutors was witnessed; whereby through the media, they attempt to influence the court of public opinion by promoting a biased narrative, whilst contaminating the jury pool even before jury selection. The initial article published on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire following the indictment of Sunna Sepetu and Nafis Quaye served such purpose.

In that article, comments were made that falsely implicated Quaye and Sepetu in a romance scam. The America public tends to afford credibility to official statements, especially when there are no alternatives; allegations are damning enough, but to have officials make insinuating remarks that they know to be false, with the intent of leading the public, and potentially the jury, in the direction needed for a conviction is simply beguiling.

The misleading comments were promptly noticed by the defense, who insisted to the prosecutor that those insinuating remarks be immediately corrected; to which the prosecution readily obliged. But alas, the damage was already done; as community activists and business owners, this false narrative proved disastrous for their reputation, and brought a great deal of negative social and professional consequences for Quaye and Sepetu, even before they had their day in court.

In this country, one is lawfully presumed innocent until proven guilty. It is disturbingly ironic how that benefit was not afforded these two upstanding community members. It is true, as part of jury instruction given by the judge in this case, the jury was admonished against consuming or referencing any out-of-the courtroom media content pertaining to the case during trial and deliberations; but that does not guarantee the defendants’ fundamental right to a fair trial, which the government’s publication invariably jeopardized. 

What you are going to read about in this article, is the defamation of two exceptional members of our community, whose integrity and image have been unfairly tarnished by law enforcement, prior to and after conviction.

Nafis Quaye was born into a reputable family in Ghana, where he was raised in a traditional and tightly-knit community. Quaye was brought up on the core values of religion, family and brotherhood; virtuous qualities that he would carry throughout his life. As youth in Ghana, he was drawn to computers and electronics, for which he would develop a life-long passion. As he got older, Quaye followed his passion after his second-cycle education into professional training in computer engineering with the hope of, one day, becoming a computer specialist.

Hailing from Ghana, Quaye would migrate to the United States where he furthered his education and subsequently obtained employment with some of America’s elite firms. After several years of stellar work performance with his employers, he ventured off into his own successful tech consultancy firm. Quaye’s other passion is for public service, youth empowerment through the provision of employable digital and technical skills, for which he established a non-profit organization whose operations largely succeeded in steering the youth away from the pitfalls of urban life by making them marketable skilled professionals.

Sunna Sepetu, Quaye’s partner, would become an instrumental member of the non-profit organization, and through their hard work, the organization earned a Mayoral and Senatorial award for their community service. Sepetu was born in Tazania, however, much like Quaye, she was raised in a traditional African community where family, religion and community were its core values. Sepetu credits her father, who was an ambassador, and her mother, a homemaker for their penchant for hard work. She immigrated to the United States over 15 years ago and through dedication and perseverance, she earned a Bachelor’s degree from an American university. Her genuine desire for helping others guided her into a career of human services; by utilizing the ethic of hard work learned from her youth, she worked her way into the position of regional director of a prominent human services firm. Sepetu and Quaye were truly living in their version of the ‘American dream’ before the devastating charge of conspiracy to money launder was brought against them.

For many years before the damning charge of conspiracy to money launder was brought, Quaye had maintained a side gig of sourcing computer equipment and electronics, mainly, and on occasion, general goods for merchants and businesses in Ghana. With his expertise in computers and the advantage of being in America, many individuals and firms in Ghana saw Quaye as a viable option for their sourcing needs. Quaye successfully met their needs, and so by referrals he built a sizable Ghanaian client list. 

A quick comment on the culture of Ghanaian domestic and abroad relations is in order, as that sub-culture played a critical role explicating the truth of Quaye’s and Sepetu’s innocence and their true role in the supposed conspiracy. Anyone familiar with the mechanics of transactions between domestic Ghanaians and expatriates living in the West would know that, invariably, the buyer in Ghana is different from the seller in America, who is also different from the person forwarding the funds for the transaction. The reason for such a cumbersome method is explained by the downsides of the banking system in Ghana, whose inadequacies are historical in origin as much has been done to improve the situation over the period, but, nonetheless, they persist even until today.

In Ghana, private individuals and firms often resort to quasi-legal third party money changers to facilitate their transactions, hence, it is found that there are many different people with different names involved in a single transaction. This is normal within the community. Why does that matter? Well, one of the main evidences brought forth by the prosecution during trial was the name of the victim of the underlying romance scam of this case which appeared in bank transfers constituting transaction for which Quaye and Sepetu are charged for money laundering. 

The prosecution, ignorantly, assumed that Quaye ought to have questioned the legality of the transactions between him and the suspected perpetrator of the fraud when he saw that the name of the suspect and the name of the money transmitter were different. But as we’ve just briefly explained, that is not a cause for alarm or suspicion to members of the Ghanaian community. Consequently, the prosecution erroneously accused Quaye and Sepetu of knowingly laundering the proceeds of fraud or, at least, willingly turning a blind eye to the criminal source of the funds utilized by Quaye’s client.

The truth is Quaye and Sepetu are very much victims in this case, not criminals. Quaye and Sepetu have been upstanding law abiding members of the community, and it is unreasonable and unfair that they have been criminalized by the prosecution simply because law enforcement, to date, have not been able to hold the real perpetrators of these crimes accountable. Mr Quaye is a businessman of integrity, the fact that the suspect, unbeknownst to Quaye, utilized his business to facilitate crimes is not an indictment upon him or his partner. Criminals slyly utilize unsuspecting legal businesses in their crimes; this case is no different.

Unfortunately, in this case, the real fraud perpetrator (suspect) was able to extract significant amount of dollars from an educated American adult, through a romance scam; and yet, what the prosecution has been able to convince the jury of is that Quaye and Sepetu were involved in a conspiracy with the suspect, that the jury ought to be convinced, without a reasonable doubt, that it was NOT POSSIBLE for Quaye and Sepetu to have been duped by the same suspected criminal mastermind into facilitating business transactions that diverted the proceeds of the fraud. Mind you, there is no direct evidence in this case. To emphasize, there is no explicit communications, relations or otherwise between the defendants and the suspects directly implicating Quaye and Sepetu in the romance scam or knowledge of the criminal activity of the suspect.

The suspect of these crimes was referred to Quaye by a trusted friend and business associate. Quaye did his usual due diligence in vetting this client and the effects produced by him were all totally convincing to Quaye as they painted a real representation of a real business person.  Quaye never met this individual physically though, and had no incline of his criminal intent and activities; after all, we are talking about a criminal mastermind. So are Quaye and Sepetu guilty of a crime for not discovering the well-hidden crimes of the suspect? Of course not! Undoubtedly, the prosecution showed their ability to beguilingly persuade the jury into a conviction verdict, but justice was not served in this case.

Quaye and Sepetu had rejected the bait of a plea, which actually accrues to them as of right, and would have occasioned a lesser sentence or dismissal – a reward the American system awards those who accept to take advantage of the offer to plea. However, in accordance with their absolute conviction of innocence, they elected to go through the full trial to clear their names, save their integrity and preserve their reputation, which were of premium to them than just walking free or getting a mitigation. 

From the initial publication by the District Attorney, to the recent article, titled “Massaachusetts Couple Sentenced Following HIS New England Romance Scam Investigation” published by the government agency leading this investigation, there has been a consorted effort to paint an inaccurate portrait of Quaye and Sepetu and make them into something they are not. 

Quaye and Sepetu are taking their fight for exoneration to the First Circuit Appeals, and for that reason, much of the details of this case has been restrained in this article. However, through it all, one of the most touching parts of this case is the support and love their family and community have shown in this travail; Quaye and Sepetu are exceedingly grateful for the support and well wishes and count on their continued prayers.

Taha Aziz

Taha Aziz

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