Jones Agyei, a Ghanaian living in Australia with his family, first contacted me in 2022 via LinkedIn on the screenshot below, asking if I knew anyone in Kenya involved in mining. When I inquired about his interest, he revealed that he had spent eight months traveling between South Sudan, Uganda, and the DRC attempting to procure gold for clients he claimed to have in Hong Kong (supposedly good friends of his). However, there was a critical catch: these clients would only pay after the gold arrived in Hong Kong and passed testing. During those eight months, Jones lost $80,000 USD to scammers as he told me. This was an inevitable outcome given that he was a complete rookie in the industry, sought shortcuts, and relied heavily on a Congolese broker who accompanied him to Nairobi and likely facilitated much of his financial loss.
When Jones arrived in Kenya, he was broke. I hosted him for four months while he repeatedly asked his father in Australia to send him money. During this time, he attempted to obtain a gold trading license through Cornelius Litunda, paying a 150,000 KES “facilitation fee” for something that was clearly impossible. Predictably, Cornelius didn’t help him, and Jones came crying to me about the loss.
Jones then asked me to help him secure a gold dealer’s license, claiming he had gold waiting in Goma through his Congolese connection. He instructed his contacts to bring the gold to Nairobi, and when they requested visa facilitation, a friend of mine processed their visas overnight. Jones paid for expedited processing, and by morning, five visas were ready. The Congolese team flew to Nairobi, and we met them for a meal (pictured below).
They claimed the gold was en route to Kenya by road. The following day, Jones was taken alone to view the gold in Spring Valley. When he returned, he described a heavily fortified mansion, expensive vehicles, and strict security protocols. They confiscated his phone before showing him 600 kilograms of gold allegedly. The sellers offered to sell approx. 100 kilograms, but Jones explained that payment could only be made once the gold reached Hong Kong and was verified. They refused these terms and called off the deal. Later, we encountered the same Spring Valley group in Gigiri driving brand-new luxury vehicles, suggesting they had successfully sold the gold elsewhere.
Next, my friend Gor called around and found a group claiming to have 12 kilograms of gold in Westlands. They demanded $12,000 USD as insurance, which Jones paid, and in return, they gave us a box purportedly containing the gold. We then began searching for a legitimate testing facility. This was a process that almost got us killed and nearly resulted in the box being stolen. Ironically, I later saw the man who was supposed to test our gold featured on a DCI page as a known gold scammer.
Throughout this period, we were still attempting to obtain a gold dealer’s license. This was no simple task, as it required paying bribes officials at the Ministry of Mining, including the CS. Jones was told he had two options: pay $15,000 USD for a new license to be approved by the CS, or pay $6,000 USD to rent an existing license for single use. His father sent him $6,000 USD, and Jones opted for the rental option.
However, another obstacle emerged: Jones lacked sufficient funds to process the 12 kilograms of gold and pay the necessary taxes to obtain an export permit and certificate of origin. To put this in perspective, 12 kilograms of gold at current market rates of approximately $65-70 per gram would be worth between $780,000 and $840,000 USD, with Kenyan export taxes and processing fees adding another 3-5% to the total cost, bringing the capital required to approximately $800,000-$880,000 USD. These were funds that Jones clearly never possessed.
Jones was waiting for his father to take out a loan to fund the operation. Meanwhile, his wife had left him and initiated court proceedings to liquidate their assets, as he had abandoned her and their six children for over eight months. He didn’t even have enough money to pay the suppliers who had provided the alleged 12 kgs (we never verified whether it was genuine gold).
During this entire ordeal, Jones stayed at my residence without paying a single day’s rent, ate my food, had me drive him around Nairobi like a VIP, and benefited from my introductions to various contacts throughout the city. I even facilitated his visa extension with immigration so he could remain in Kenya legally. He was always treated as a VIP guest. Despite all this, he never gave me a single dollar, though he was always willing to pay “facilitation fees” to scammers because he knew he lacked the resources to conduct legitimate, straightforward business. In fact, Jones should pay me for the four months he spent at my house for free and the time I spent helping him.
One morning, he simply packed his bags and flew to Ghana to try his luck there. We returned the alleged gold to the suppliers, and Jones forfeited his $12,000 USD insurance payment to the owners of the 12kg which we had stayed with for a month. This venture nearly got me killed in the process.
While searching for a gold smelter and testing facility, I contacted a friend whose uncle operates gold mining operations in Western Kenya. We met at CJ’s Yaya Center, where his uncle listened to our story before leaving. He later called my friend and instructed him to tell us that everyone we were dealing with were con artists, and he wanted nothing to do with them or us.
I challenge Jones Agyei or any other person, including this clown of a lawyer, to present any evidence they have to support their claims. If they cannot, this matter will end up in court for spreading malicious lies about me. My MBA is worth far more than a mere 7 million KES. Bunch of liars. You’re busy defending a man who will not hesitate to throw you under the bus when you’re in trouble, jifanye tu mjuaji.
