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Lexington, Kentucky - Shimea Maret McDonald, 25, of San Antonio, Texas, has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for her involvement in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft. The scheme impacted 70 businesses and individuals, with 40 victims suffering unrecovered $4.6 million in financial losses and 24 victims having their identities stolen.

Key Points

• McDonald conspired with Nana Kwabena Amuah in laundering proceeds from business email compromise scams.
• Their scheme involved impersonating vendors in email communications and directing wire payments to new bank accounts. McDonald used fake identity cards and names of fictitious companies to open these bank accounts.
• In one incident, McDonald played a part in defrauding the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government of $3,905,837.05. She used counter checks funded by fraudulent wires to facilitate the transfer of funds to herself and other coconspirators. The city was able to recover these funds.
• Nana Kwabena Amuah, 31, a Ghana national and McDonald’s co-defendant, was sentenced in November 2023 to 86 months in prison and ordered to pay $4,695,442.81 in restitution.
• In addition to her prison term, McDonald is ordered to pay restitution amounting to $4,690,870.81. Both McDonald and Amuah are required to serve 85 percent of their prison sentences and will be under supervised release for three years after their prison terms.

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