A Nairobi-based lawyer has become the latest suspect to be swept into what investigators describe as a well-oiled international fraud syndicate that allegedly swindled more than Sh103 million from an American investor in a fake multimillion-dollar loan scheme.
Stephen Juma Ndeda was produced before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Koech at the Kahawa Law Courts, where he faced five counts touching on fraud, money-laundering and participation in organised criminal activity. He denied all charges.
His arraignment marks a deepening of a case that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) say was orchestrated through an elaborate network of companies, agents and individuals operating across borders.
The investigation began after American businessman Blake Charles Stringer reported that he had been lured into pursuing what he believed was a USD 500 million (Sh66 billion) loan to finance an agricultural venture in Africa.
Stringer told authorities he travelled to Nairobi after being linked to a firm calling itself Affluent Wealth Management, where he signed what he understood to be legitimate financing documents. He was then instructed to pay more than USD 800,000 (Sh103 million) in “insurance” and “processing” charges through a string of local companies—among them Toureg Insurance and two additional entities.
But after months of assurances, he received nothing.
Charges paint picture of a coordinated operation
According to the charge sheet, Ndeda is accused of conspiring with others—still at large—to defraud US-based Nutra-Acres LLC of USD 800,000 between June 2024 and February 2025.
Prosecutors allege he presented himself as a fixer capable of navigating access to a non-existent USD 500 million credit facility, persuading the complainant to part with huge sums under false pretences.
In one of the counts, the lawyer—described in court as a director of Toureg Insurance Agency Ltd—is accused of receiving USD 56,400 (Sh7.2 million) in January 2025 under the guise of facilitating the supposed mega-loan. Investigators say he was fully aware that the representations were fraudulent.
Prosecutors further claim Ndeda moved and withdrew the USD 56,400 in a manner intended to mask its origin—actions they say constitute money-laundering under Kenyan law.
He is additionally accused of participating in an organised criminal enterprise that allegedly operated from Nairobi over several months, with the aim of laundering and siphoning off funds belonging to the complainant.
In the final count, he is charged with acquiring proceeds of crime by receiving the USD 56,400 through an Ecobank Kenya account, purportedly as payment for an “engagement contract”.
After the charges were read, Ndeda’s defense team requested a review of the bail conditions, arguing that their client was not a flight risk and had cooperated with investigators.
The prosecution intends to oppose the request, maintaining that the case involves a complex financial network and multiple suspects who are yet to be apprehended.
The matter will be mentioned for directions as the State seeks to unravel what it believes is one of the more sophisticated cross-border fraud schemes uncovered in recent years.
Leave a Reply