Royse City, Texas – A Royse City man will spend the next five years in federal prison after confessing to being part of a romantic fraud operation that targeted elderly people and transported significant amounts of money offshore. Federal authorities said the scheme used deception, fake identities, and emotional manipulation to get victims to contribute money they thought was for romantic connections and investments in other countries.
Felix Clark, 37, was given a 60-month prison sentence on January 15. After that, he will be on supervised release for three years. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to court records. The punishment was given in Camden, New Jersey, in federal court. The judge told Clark to be taken into custody immediately so he could start serving his time.
According to the Department of Justice, Clark was a vital link in the plot. He got money from victims all around the US and sent it to other countries, mostly Ghana. Clark utilized many fake names, such as Joseph Moore and Stanley Smith, and used bank accounts formed under fake names to hide his involvement and transfer the money.
Investigators said the fraud scheme operated from at least October 2021 through September 2022, when Clark was living in Delray Beach, Florida. During that time, co-conspirators in Ghana pretended to be romantic partners on dating sites. They gained the trust of elderly victims by making false profiles and fake life stories. Many of these victims had recently lost their spouses and were emotionally vulnerable.
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Once they had built relationships, the scammers got their victims to transfer them money for a number of fake reasons. Prosecutors added that one prevalent assertion was that a lot of gold was supposedly being kept in Ghana. People who were hurt were told that they had to pay taxes, fees, or other expenditures before they could get their gold back. Payments were sent to Clark or anyone who were following his orders.
Clark admitted to being responsible for more than $500,000 in losses to victims when he pleaded guilty. According to court documents, Clark tried to get in the way of the investigation after police searched his residence with a search warrant. Prosecutors said he set up a fake death certificate and funeral notice, which were then sent in to try to falsely claim that a family member had died and get back a passport that had been legally taken by the police.
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Earlier this month, Clark’s girlfriend, 34-year-old Esther Amppiaw of Royse City, was given a sentence for her part in the scheme’s money side. She pleaded guilty to running an unauthorized transfer of cash and was sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release on January 7. She is supposed to go to prison at a later period.
Prosecutors alleged that Amppiaw took money via fraud and sent it on for profit. From January 2022 to June 2023, she received checks, money orders, and electronic payments from people she didn’t know. The total was more than $317,000, and she sent most of it to other people, mostly in Ghana. Authorities also alleged that throughout conversations with several federal agencies, she lied to federal authorities and her bank over and over again about what she was doing.
Federal officials said the case highlights the ongoing threat of romance fraud schemes and the significant financial and emotional harm they cause, particularly to older victims.
