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Anansi's Gold: The man who swindled the world

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T or F? “Blay-Miezah’s funeral was held in 1993. It was a modest affair by Ghanaian standards, especially for a man known for his ostentatious displays of wealth. The wake keeping lasted five days.” But “…some people still refused to believe that he was dead.” In her thrilling new book, Yepoka Yeebo tells the jaw-dropping story of a man behind a scam called 'one of the most fascinating - and lucrative - in modern history' ... the ever-proliferating grifter-lit bookshelf is on the verge of collapsing under its own weight, but Yeebo's contribution to the category stands out ... meticulously researched. " --The Guardian

This captivating story of a gifted con artist and his international network of abettors is not only a sheer pleasure to read, but also a profound inquiry into how a lie can become a legend. Yepoka Yeebo's tenacious reporting and relentless pursuit of the truth are nothing short of heroicIt’s important to preserve this history before it’s too late and establish research trails so others can replicate that work and build on it. Hopefully, many more people will find stories and go through family archives and write all their stories into history, adding real information on top of a pile of incredibly suspect history to balance the picture and fill it out.

The scam worked so well that Blay-Miezah made hundreds of millions of dollars. He had offices around the world. He had Nixon's former attorney-general, and at least two military dictators, helping him out. He ran for President of Ghana, escaped prison, and lived the high life for decades - until his lies finally caught up with him. TRUE OR FALSE? “Still, [John] Mitchell’s certainty was enough to convince [Kofi] Quantson—once again—that the Oman Ghana Trust Fund might actually exist. Quantson had repeatedly vowed to have nothing more to do with Blay-Miezah. But like so many of the investors, he found it impossible to stay away from him. . . the possibility that it might actually be real—was just too compelling.” In this absorbing true crime narrative, Yeebo details the fascinating story of this audacious con artist. " -- Town & Country A fascinating story brilliantly told.”― The Boston Globe * "A non-fiction masterpiece." ― Philadelphia Inquirer Thrilling . . . Yeebo tells the jaw-dropping story of [Ghanaian con artist Blay-Miezah] . . . meticulously researched' Guardian

'A juicy, wild ride'

While there are several versions of the original scam’s setup, this is the most common: On his deathbed, so it goes, in 1972, Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, revealed he had hidden tens of thousands of gold bars and sums of cash amounting to untold millions in Swiss vaults. This was set up in a trust that could only be accessed by his close confidant — Blay-Miezah. Once the conditions of the trust were satisfied, the money would be released, the bulk for the development of Ghana. The rest would go to the faithful Blay-Miezah — and his investors. The sprawling story of Blay-Miezah's outsize life and wayward career is told with mordant aplomb by first-time author Yepoka Yeebo ... While [the book] reflects a daunting amount of research, it reads like a picaresque novel ... Compelling. " -- The Wall Street Journal But it was also important to tell the history. Nkrumah has long seemed outlandishly corrupt – and he wasn’t. But that didn’t stop people; it was just accepted without evidence. Rawlings actively tried to murder my father, who was a minor politician at the time. My parents had friends who were disappeared and when I started asking about this period it was pretty clear they had post-traumatic stress and that really broke my heart.

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