The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that investigators have seized more than $750,000 from a cryptocurrency account held by a Kenyan national linked to a vast “ghost student” federal student-aid fraud operation. The action was part of Operation Ghostbusters, a multi-agency probe into a scheme that allegedly used stolen U.S. identities to create fraudulent Federal Student Aid accounts and enroll non-existent students at community colleges and universities.
Prosecutors say refunds from loans and grants were first sent as cash to U.S. bank accounts controlled by money mules, then portions were wired to Kenya and in at least one instance converted into digital assets. The seizure is being described as the Fraud Division’s first international crypto account action of its kind in Kenya.
According to the Justice Department, the overall fraud is estimated at well over $200 million. The FBI has identified more than $32 million in losses from similar ghost-student schemes. In September and October 2026, investigators flagged 830,840 potentially fraudulent FSA IDs tied to nearly $130 million and recommended disabling them.
Charges were unsealed in three districts. In New Jersey, Mabed Patricia Utate-Alberto, Patricia Arisleydi Perez, and George Arturo Alfau Mendez face complaints as alleged money mules; prosecutors say the conspiracy ran from around March 2021 to at least January 2026 and involved intended losses above $1 million. In the Eastern District of Virginia, a Kenyan national was indicted on conspiracy and wire-fraud charges over more than $1.4 million stolen through 700 fraudulent refund deposits. In Nebraska, Kenyan citizen Francis Mogambi faces theft and aggravated identity theft charges. He is accused of using stolen identities to redirect aid checks between November 2025 and May 2026 and sending a share to Kenya.
The Justice Department stressed that indictments and complaints are allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Kenyan partners in the asset seizure included the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Asset Recovery Agency, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
