45-Year-Old Pleads Guilty to $300,000 Fraud Case in US
- Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering over a years-long romance scam
- Ham created two fictitious female personas and convinced a Portland resident the women needed money to escape commercial exploitation and cover living costs
- The victim lost more than $333,000, much of it drawn from retirement savings, over a period spanning nearly four years
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A Washington state man has pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering after orchestrating a multi-year scheme that tricked a Portland resident into sending him more than $333,000.
U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford announced on November 4 that Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, admitted in court to defrauding the victim between September 2020 and May 2024.
Source: Getty Images
How Ham ran the deception
According to court documents, Ham constructed two fictitious female identities and used them to build a relationship with the victim over several years.
He persuaded the victim that both women were real and in desperate circumstances, claiming they required financial help for living costs, nursing school fees and to free themselves from commercial exploitation.
Ham communicated with the victim both under his own name and through the fabricated personas, sustaining the illusion across multiple interactions.
In November 2022, he escalated the scheme by claiming one of the fictitious women urgently needed funds to escape traffickers, prompting the victim to transfer $36,872.35. Ham subsequently wrote an $18,500 cheque to his wife using a portion of that money.
In March 2023, further false representations led the victim to withdraw $20,922 from a retirement account, which was then deposited into bank accounts controlled by Ham and his wife.
In total, Ham took $333,249.52 from the victim, with a significant portion drawn from the victim's retirement savings.
Charges and sentencing exposure
Ham pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he acknowledged the factual basis of both charges and agreed to pay full restitution to the victim. He also agreed to a forfeiture money judgement of $333,249.52.
Wire fraud carries a maximum federal sentence of 20 years in prison, while money laundering carries a maximum of 10 years.
Both charges also carry potential fines, up to three years of supervised release and mandatory fee assessments.
The FBI is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Bateman is prosecuting.
Togolese man pleads guilty to $5.7m fraud case in US
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that a Togolese man, Gedeon Mawulolo Agbeyome, had pleaded guilty to a fraud case in the United States of America.
The young man is said to have engaged in money laundering and the theft of nearly $3 million from US citizens.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
