KOFI BOAT CHALLENGES EXTRADITION PROCESS IN $100M US ROMANCE SCAM CASE

Isaac Kofi Oduro Boateng, better known by his alias as Kofi Boat, is a Ghanaian businessman who is contesting his extradition to the United States on grave charges of being the head of a cybercrime syndicate that defrauded people and companies out of more than $100 million between 2016 and 2023.

Boat’s attorney contended that the extradition procedure was defective when he appeared before the Gbese District Court on Friday, June 20, 2025.

The defence said the U.S. government had not followed the proper legal process, according to journalist Ameyaw Debrah, who gave exclusive insights from the courtroom.

In a Facebook post, Debrah disclosed that Kofi Boat’s attorney contested the U.S. arrest warrant’s admissibility, claiming Ghana’s diplomatic mission in the US had not verified it.

This authentication is a legal requirement under Ghanaian law for such documents to be considered admissible.

According to Ghanaian law, this authentication is necessary for such documents to be deemed admissible.

Since then, the magistrate has postponed the case until July 1, 2025, in order to rule on the procedural challenge.

Boat has denied any involvement in cyber fraud. He was taken into custody on Friday, June 13, 2025, as part of a joint operation by the Ghana Police Service, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Interpol. His legal team argued that his U.S. business operations were lawful.

The businessman was arrested along with Derrick Van Yeboah and Inusah Ahmed, better known as Pascal, the owner of PAC Academy.

Patrick Kwame Asare, a fourth suspect, is still at large. The arrests are a part of a larger crackdown by U.S. authorities on Ghana-based cybercrime networks.