Anansi's Gold

Winner of the Jhalak Prize & Plutarch Award | A New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, Newsweek, TIME Book of the Year 2023 Fabulously entertaining Daily Telegraph | Perfect for fans of Frank Abignale Jr.s Catch Me If You Can Publishers Weekly The astounding, never-before-told story of how an ingenious Ghanaian con artist ran one of the 20th centurys longest and most audacious frauds. When Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957, it immediately became a target for opportunists determined to lay hold of whatever assets colonialism hadnt already stripped. The military ousted the new nations first president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of stealing the countrys gold and hiding it overseas. Into this story stepped one of historys most charismatic scammers, John Ackah Blay-Miezah a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty, Blay-Miezah declared himself the custodian of an alleged Nkrumah trust fund worth billions. You, too, could claim a piece, if only you would help him rescue it with a small investment. Over the 1970s and 80s, he grew his scam to epic proportions, amassing hundreds of millions of pounds from thousands of marks all over the world. He baffled Henry Kissinger, scandalised Shirley Temple-Black, and had Nixons former attorney-general at his beck and call. Many tried to stop him, but Blay-Miezah continued to live in luxury, protected by ex-SAS soldiers while he deceived lawyers, businessmen and investigators around the globe. In Anansis Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases the ever-wilder trail of Blay-Miezah and unfolds a riveting account of Cold War entanglements and African dreams revealing the untold story of the grifter who beat the West at its own thieving game. Nominated for a 2024 Legacy Award from the Hurston/Wright Foundation