Intro

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Exploring the captivating story of a Ghanaian con artist who deceived people by claiming the first president's wealth was in Swiss banks, revealing layers of deception intertwined with political, colonial, and post-colonial elements. The hosts reflect on the global reach of the con artist's schemes and draw parallels to other infamous scam narratives, like the Nigerian scam.

Yepoka Yeebo has written for The Guardian, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Quartz. Her new book is Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World.

“Initially it was like, Why are you writing about a con man? He makes Ghana look bad. Nobody needs another crime story about an African person. I found that irritating, because isn't the whole point of being a complete person, complete people, is we contain multitudes? We too can be epic, world-leading con men! Also, it's a great story. Everybody should revel in the insanity of what happened.”

Show notes: