The Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 10 charged Ernest Ossei Boateng and two New Jersey-based companies he controls with operating a Ponzi scheme that allegedly raised approximately $16 million from more than 200 investors.
The companies named are Intercontinental Wealth Network LLC and I Wealth Network LP. The alleged conduct ran from at least January 2020 until at least March 2026, according to the SEC.
What the complaint alleges
According to the SEC’s complaint, Boateng, acting through the two companies, solicited, recommended and sold interests in an alleged investment fund, primarily targeting Christians of Ghanaian heritage in New York and New Jersey. Many of those investors had no prior investing experience, the complaint says.
The complaint alleges Boateng told investors their money would generate guaranteed fixed returns and that the fund would pursue a low-risk investment strategy.
Instead, the SEC alleges, Boateng misappropriated more than $5.8 million for personal expenses, including the purchase, renovation and furnishing of his home, and used approximately $6.6 million to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors. A Ponzi scheme pays purported returns to existing investors from money contributed by new investors rather than from investment profits.
To the limited extent money was invested, the complaint alleges, it went into high-risk, speculative day trading rather than low-risk investments with fixed returns, producing more than $750,000 in trading losses.
The agency’s characterization
“We allege that the defendants’ investors included retirees, taxi drivers, home health care providers, students, an ailing widow with young children, and at least two churches and one prayer group,” said Thomas P. Smith, Jr., Associate Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.
“The defendants’ sales pitch to victims included assuring them that their investments were safe and without risk—telling many their money was protected by so-called ‘financial, investment insurance.’ That’s as big of a red flag as we see in these types of scams,” Smith said.
Charges and relief sought
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charges Boateng, Intercontinental and I Wealth with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It charges Boateng and Intercontinental with violating the antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with pre-judgment interest, and civil penalties against all defendants, as well as conduct-based injunctions against Boateng and Intercontinental.
The allegations have not been proven in court. The SEC’s release does not include any response from the defendants.
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “SEC Charges Founder and His Two New Jersey-Based Companies in Alleged $16 Million Ponzi Scheme” (Press Release 2026-86), released Sept. 10, 2026. All descriptions of conduct are allegations contained in the SEC’s complaint and have not been adjudicated.