Ernest Ossei Boateng built his pitch around a proposition that can sound especially attractive to people trying to secure a better financial future: put money into his investment fund, leave it there, and watch it grow at returns that could reach 25%, 50% or even 100% a year. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, more than 200 investors followed that pitch and entrusted Boateng and two New Jersey companies he controlled with at least $16 million. The SEC now says much of that money did not go where investors were told it would.
The agency filed a civil enforcement action on September 10, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Boateng, Intercontinental Wealth Network LLC and I Wealth Network LP. The complaint describes an investment operation that allegedly ran from at least January 2020 through March 2026 and primarily targeted Christians of Ghanaian heritage in New York and New Jersey. The case is significant not simply because of the amount involved, but because the SEC says the operation relied heavily on existing community and religious relationships to win the confidence of people who often had little experience with investing.
Boateng, 44, is originally from Ghana and immigrated to the United States around 2016, according to the SEC complaint. The agency says he lived in Pittstown, New Jersey, and was the founder, control person and sole owner of the companies at the center of the case. Intercontinental Wealth Network was founded in July 2017 and was based in Union, New Jersey. I Wealth Network LP was formed in October 2020, with Intercontinental serving as its general partner. Neither company was registered with the SEC, and the complaint says neither had employees. Boateng himself had never been registered with the SEC, held no professional or FINRA licenses and had never been associated with a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. The complaint also says he failed the Series 6 and Series 63 examinations in 2016.
His public professional profile presents a somewhat different picture. A LinkedIn profile bearing his name identifies him with “INTER,” lists McMaster University and describes experience as an insurance representative. That profile is useful background but does not establish that he was a licensed investment professional. The SEC specifically alleges that Boateng told investors he was an investment professional and that some investors came away believing he was affiliated with a large financial services firm. The agency says he was not.
At the center of the allegations was an investment vehicle the SEC calls the I-Fund. Boateng promoted it through personal meetings, phone calls, emails and text messages and made presentations to at least two churches and a prayer group connected to the Ghanaian community. Some investors came through word of mouth from people who had already invested. The SEC says the investor pool included retirees, taxi drivers, home health care workers, students, an ailing widow with young children, immigrants and religious organizations. Some investors, according to the complaint, intended to use expected returns for major goals such as buying or building a church.
The promised numbers were striking. The SEC says Boateng typically promised annual returns of 25% to 100% or more while describing the investments as safe and low risk. Presentation material shown to prospective investors reportedly described a 25% compounded annual return and suggested that $24,000 could become $1 million in ten years. Boateng also promoted the concept as a way to build “generational wealth,” according to the complaint. For people unfamiliar with financial markets, the combination of high returns, apparent certainty and a trusted community connection could make the proposition difficult to dismiss.
The SEC’s central allegation is that the promised investment strategy did not match what actually happened to the money. Investors sent approximately $15.2 million to Intercontinental accounts, about $1 million to I Wealth accounts and at least $480,000 directly to Boateng’s personal accounts. Although investors were told that 100% of their money would be invested, the SEC says only about half was used for investment activity. About $6.6 million was allegedly redirected to make purported principal and interest payments to earlier investors, a pattern the regulator characterizes as Ponzi-like.
Another $5.8 million was allegedly used for Boateng’s personal expenses. The complaint says the money went toward a residence, renovations and furnishings, cash payments involving himself and family members, and a car lease. The SEC gives specific examples. In November 2023, after $112,000 was moved from an Intercontinental brokerage account into a checking account that also contained recently deposited investor money, Boateng allegedly used $200,000 from the account as a down payment on a home, withdrew $6,000 in cash, donated $5,000 to his church, paid $875 toward a septic inspection and sent $7,000 to an existing investor. In another example from November 2025, a $20,000 investor deposit was followed within days by $19,000 in payments to earlier investors and other personal spending.
The investment activity itself also raised serious questions. The SEC says Boateng sent only about $5.4 million of investor money to brokerage accounts. Rather than pursuing the low-risk strategy investors had been promised, he allegedly engaged in high-frequency trading of stocks and options, including calls and puts. The complaint says the trading produced net losses of approximately $750,000. It also alleges that around $2.7 million was placed into investments outside the brokerage accounts, including at least $1.1 million deposited into an attorney’s escrow account that generated no investment return for investors.
The complaint further alleges that investors were given documents stating their money was being placed into particular financial products or brokerage accounts when it was not. Some certificates reportedly promised fixed annual returns of 25%, with certain certificates promising 100% or more. The SEC says the I-Fund never generated the returns promised and that no money was invested in some of the products named in investor certificates, including bonds or products tied to the VIX volatility index.
The allegations go beyond questionable investment decisions. When investors asked for evidence of their account performance, the SEC says Boateng created fabricated account statements showing gains that had not occurred. The statements allegedly carried the logo of an SEC-registered brokerage firm that, according to the complaint, had no role in producing them and did not maintain accounts for those investors. The SEC says the figures on the statements did not correspond to the actual brokerage account or the value of I-Fund assets.
When investors sought their money, the SEC alleges that Boateng offered changing explanations for the delays. In some cases, he reportedly blamed the SEC, telling investors that the agency had frozen the defendants’ accounts. The complaint says that never happened. He also allegedly cited supposed tax-law changes and administrative problems as reasons investors could not receive their money.
The SEC has charged all three defendants with violations of the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including Rule 10b-5. It also charged Boateng and Intercontinental under antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act. The agency is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus interest, civil monetary penalties and restrictions that would prevent Boateng from participating in securities activities or serving as an investment adviser, broker or dealer. No final judgment or monetary penalty has been entered in the sources reviewed for this article.
There is also an important distinction between the case now before the court and a criminal prosecution. The action filed by the SEC is a civil securities enforcement case. The court docket identifies Boateng, Intercontinental and I Wealth as defendants, with the complaint filed on September 10. The available docket information does not show a criminal indictment, conviction or guilty plea. It also does not show a final finding that the SEC’s allegations have been proven.
Boateng’s position is not fully developed in the public sources reviewed. During the SEC’s pre-lawsuit investigation, agency staff subpoenaed him for sworn testimony, and the complaint says he declined to answer substantive questions about the allegations by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. That is not an admission of wrongdoing, nor does it resolve the SEC’s allegations. As of September 16, 2026, the federal case remains pending.
The case also illustrates why affinity-based investment schemes can be difficult to detect. Trust built through a church, cultural community, professional relationship or friendship can sometimes substitute for the independent checks investors would normally expect from a regulated financial professional. Here, the SEC says that trust was central to how investors were recruited. The agency’s allegations still have to be tested in court, but the numbers are already stark: at least $16 million raised, more than 200 investors, roughly $6.6 million allegedly used for payments to earlier investors, at least $5.8 million allegedly diverted for personal purposes and more than $750,000 lost through speculative trading. The broader warning is straightforward. High returns described as guaranteed, especially when paired with claims that an investment is virtually risk-free, deserve scrutiny regardless of how trustworthy the person making the pitch may appear. In this case, the next chapter will be decided not by the sales presentations that brought investors in, but by the evidence presented in federal court.
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