Wall Street Financier Pleads Guilty To Fraud, Attorney General Says

WALL STREET, NY — A Wall Street financier was convicted of financial fraud after stealing money from a Bronx Church and Villanova University, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said Wednesday that Anthony Nyame, a Wall Street financier, was convicted of stealing more than $3.5 million from multiple victims. Nyame was found to have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from the First Ghana Seventh Day Adventist Church in the Bronx. Nyame told them that his Wall Street company could secure the church millions of dollars in loans.

Nyame pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the first degree on Wednesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second and third degrees, prosecutors said.

“It is simply appalling that anyone would choose to fleece universities and churches in order to line their own pockets,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “New Yorkers deserve to know that when they seek to grow their organization, there isn’t a fraudster lurking in the shadows.”

In addition to stealing from the Bronx church, Nyame also stole $2.7 million from Villanova University in Pennsylvania through cyber crime. He told many of his victims, including the church, that he could arrange for generous loans if they paid him to collateralize the loans, Schneiderman’s office said.

Nyame will be sentenced to one year in jail as long as he pays $800,000 in restitution to his victims, prosecutors said. He faces between three and nine years behind bars if he does not pay restitution. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

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