Rhode Island Woman Convicted in International Money Laundering Scheme

PROVIDENCE - A woman who created a local business to launder millions of dollars of funds fraudulently obtained from scam victims was convicted today by a federal jury for money laundering conspiracy and multiple counts of money laundering, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Jennifer O. Djan, 32, a Ghanian national residing in Pawtucket, RI, registered a business and opened multiple business bank accounts, which she then used to launder fraud proceeds, much of which made its way to individuals in the Republic of Ghana. Ms. Djan is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22, 2025. The jury reached its verdict after deliberating for approximately four-and-one-half hours that followed six days of testimony.

"By laundering money for a ring of scammers, this defendant played a critical role in helping fraudsters bilk innocent victims across the United States out of their hard-earned savings to enrich herself and her co-conspirators overseas," remarked U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha. "I am pleased that a federal jury had no problem seeing through her attempt at deception, and that today she faces the richly deserved conviction."

"Jennifer Djan not only conspired with others who blatantly defrauded unsuspecting victims across the country who were looking for companionship and hoping for a better financial future, she tried to conceal her criminal cash flow by laundering millions of dollars through multiple bank accounts here in the U.S. and in Ghana," said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. "The FBI and our partners are grateful to the jury for its service and swift verdict that will hopefully put this financial fraudster permanently out of business."

The government's evidence showed that, beginning in September 2020, Djan registered a supposed "logistics" business based out of a Pawtucket apartment she shared with several family members. Almost immediately, Djan began establishing multiple business checking accounts tied to her purported business, and then used those bank accounts to receive proceeds sent directly from fraud victims, and other proceeds sent to her by other members of the conspiracy.

Despite having no infrastructure to provide logistics services and apparently having no legitimate business, the evidence presented to the jury showed that large sums of money flowed into these accounts. The evidence also established that funds flowing into Djan's business accounts were often moved out of those accounts within days, at times transferred directly to another co-conspirator's account in the U.S. or Ghana. Additionally, the evidence showed that Djan travelled back and forth between the United States and Ghana for months at a time, both bringing fraud proceeds with her and withdrawing them from accounts while she was overseas. While in Ghana, she also directed another individual to retrieve checks for her in the United States and to deposit them into her accounts.

In November 2022, Djan's residence was searched pursuant to a federal search warrant. No business records were located and no evidence that Djan was operating a legitimate business was found.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Julianne Klein and John P. McAdams.

Djan was ordered detained following the return of the jury's verdict. The defendant's sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The matter was investigated by the FBI's Complex Financial Crimes Task Force, with assistance from the North Providence Police Department.

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