The Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 10, 2026, charged Ernest Ossei Boateng and two New Jersey-based companies he controls over an alleged Ponzi scheme operated from at least January 2020 until at least March 2026. The SEC alleges that Boateng, Intercontinental Wealth Network LLC and I Wealth Network LP raised approximately $16 million from more than 200 inexperienced investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Boateng used the companies to solicit, recommend and sell interests in an alleged investment fund, primarily targeting Christians of Ghanaian heritage in New York and New Jersey, many of whom had no prior investing experience. He allegedly promised guaranteed fixed returns and represented that the fund would follow a low-risk investment strategy.
The complaint alleges that Boateng instead misappropriated more than $5.8 million for personal expenses, including purchasing, renovating and furnishing his home. He also allegedly used approximately $6.6 million to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors. To the limited extent that he invested the money, the SEC alleges that he engaged in high-risk, speculative day trading rather than low-risk investments with fixed returns, resulting in more than $750,000 in trading losses.
Thomas P. Smith, Jr., associate director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said the investors included retirees, taxi drivers, home health care providers, students, an ailing widow with young children, at least two churches and one prayer group. According to Smith, the defendants assured many investors that their money was safe, without risk and protected by so-called “financial, investment insurance.”
The SEC filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It charges Boateng, Intercontinental and I Wealth with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and charges Boateng and Intercontinental with violating the antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The agency seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with pre-judgment interest and civil penalties against all defendants, along with conduct-based injunctions against Boateng and Intercontinental.