Good deeds don’t erase drug broker’s crimes, judge rules

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This article was published 11/09/2022 (1137 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lord Kofi Agyapong-Mensah turned his attention to mentoring Winnipeg youth after he was released from a California prison for his part in a cross-border scam that bilked seniors out of at least $280 million.

But his good deeds could not offset the devastation he wreaked when he became a key player in the city’s illegal drug trade, a judge said Wednesday.

Agyapong-Mensah, 43, was arrested in December 2019 following a 16-month RCMP undercover investigation that resulted in the largest seizure of methamphetamine — 22 kilograms — in Manitoba history, and 43 kg of cocaine. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

“Mr. Agyapong-Mensah’s pro-social work is, on the one hand mitigating, but on the other hand is aggravating in the sense that it cloaked or distracted from the fact that (he) was concurrently and actively engaged in very serious anti-social behaviour,” said Court of King’s Bench Justice David Kroft.

The police investigation, dubbed Project Declass, was launched in August 2018, after two Winnipeg residents were arrested while trying to import 40 kg of cocaine into Manitoba. The probe spanned five provinces and involved the Canada Border Services Agency and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Police arrested 11 suspects with ties to multiple criminal organizations, including the Southland chapter of the Hells Angels.

Agyapong-Mensah was identified as a target early in the investigation “due to his connections to a number of what police believed to be high-level drug traffickers,” Kroft said.

Agyapong-Mensah brokered 11 drug deals with undercover police, selling officers 10 kg of methamphetamine and over 1 kg of cocaine from May to November 2019.

Court was told Agyapong-Mensah arranged the meeting times, settled any shortfalls, and talked about helping the undercover officers launder their drug proceeds.

“He cannot be described as a mere courier or go-between,” Kroft said. “The degree of control he exercised… is evidence of a person with more influence than that.”

Agyapong-Mensah spent several years volunteering with the YMCA’s youth and senior basketball programs, and at the time of his arrest, operated a sport training and promotion program for youth.

“The numerous testimonials filed in support of Mr. Agyapong-Mensah indicate that, for some, his program was transformative, and resulted in some trainees progressing to elite colleges in Canada and the U.S.,” Kroft said.

Agyapong-Mensah claimed he used the drug profits to pay debts he had incurred while running the sport training program.

“The fact profits were to be used to cover personal financial losses associated with his youth training program is not offsetting, even if, in isolation, that program had positive social effects,” Kroft said. “There are others in society who incur business losses in socially positive endeavours who do not turn to trafficking in hard drugs.”

Agyapong-Mensah, who was born in Ghana and is a Canadian citizen, was extradited to California in 2015 after he was identified as a key player in a U.S.-based scam that preyed upon vulnerable seniors.

Agyapong-Mensah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. In addition to prison time, he was ordered to pay $550,000 in restitution.

Agyapong-Mensah, who was sentenced in California in 2015, was one of nearly 200 suspects arrested in Canada and the U.S.

The group targeted seniors across North America, calling them to say they had won the lottery or a major sweepstakes, but had to send payments to cover taxes, insurance and other fees through MoneyGram or Western Union before they could collect their winnings.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca