ANANSI'S GOLD, the man who swindled the world

378pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, London, 2023

Ghanaian con artist John Ackah Blay-Miezah masterminded the 'Kwame Nkrumah Oman Ghana Trust Fund' scam. From the 1960s to 1980s he is said to have swindled over $200m from 'investors' in North America, Europe, and Asia, having promised them a ten-fold return.

"Dr. John Ackah Blay-Miezah told investors he could access Kwame Nkrumah's Oman Ghana Trust Fund, billions of dollars the country's first president had supposedly funneled to Swiss banks. He was a classic fraudster, neither a doctor nor operating under his real name. But Ghanaian journalist Yeebo takes it to another level, tracing Blay-Miezah's scams to the lies of British colonial administrators who toppled Nkrumah. It's a juicy, wild ride" Los Angeles Times

"This hugely important and riveting book tells a true story of avarice and ambition that is centred on Ghana but reveals a web of lies and deceit on a vast international scale. At the heart of this utterly compelling narrative is a theme of real urgency today: the political and social dangers and the terrible harm caused by the deliberate falsification of the past" Susan Williams, author of White Malice: The CIA and the covert recolonization of Africa 

Yepoka Yeebo's work has appeared in the Guardian, Huffington Post, the Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek and Quartz, amongst other publications. She divides her time between Accra, London and New York.