Mona Faiz Montrage may face a maximum sentence of 10 years for participating in a romance scam, according to US-based prosecutor and Supreme Court attorney Ebenezer Apiagyei. In order to reduce her sentence, Mona Faiz Montrage must cooperate with the federal government and reveal the names of the major players in the scam. If she does so, some of her charges may be withdrawn.
“As a prosecutor, I can tell you this might not go to trial because they have enough evidence against her… The reason they have this individual who is popular and famous, I can tell you how it’s going to end. They are going to give all the evidence they have on her to her lawyer.
“Her lawyer is going to review what we call discovery. Then they develop a strategy, the lawyer will tell her to admit some. And then they will work with the Attorney General’s Office. So what usually happens is that they try to mitigate the sentencing…The sentences of all the counts accumulate to a maximum of 95 years. I’m yet to find out somebody serving 95 years in this kind of international wire fraud”.
He said in an interview that,
“Usually they plead guilty, and they use them as a leverage. So they are going to use this individual as leverage, to get all those involved. If she starts talking and corporating with the federal government, then it might reduce the sentencing.
“They can withdraw some of the charges and definitely will ask for 8-10 years… If she corporates, then she might probably name who those big guns are in this enterprise. So sometimes, they use her as the main witness to go after the big fish”.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will pursue those involved in the romance scam saga, as stated by Ebenezer Apiagyei, a US-based prosecutor and Supreme Court attorney. He warned that the culprits should not assume they are safe from legal consequences, as they will be apprehended once the investigations are complete.
“Absolutely, you cannot defraud United State citizens, and go scot-free. The fact that they have not come to your time, doesn’t mean nobody is investigating you. There were a group of individual enterprise, 8 of them were indicted in 2020, they investigate them from 2014 to 2018. You realize that they were investigating this individual from 2013 to 2019. As a prosecutor, I can tell you, this might not go to trial, because they have enough evidence against them”.
[ads2]
