Anansi's Gold

Keynote
The astounding, never-before-told story of how an ingenious Ghanaian con artist ran
one of the 20th century's longest and most audacious frauds.
Description
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 century’s 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 hadn’t
already stripped. The military ousted the new nation’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah,
then falsely accused him of stealing the country’s gold and hiding it overseas.
Into this story stepped one of history’s most charismatic scammers, John Ackah BlayMiezah
– a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty, BlayMiezah
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 TempleBlack,
and had Nixon’s former attorneygeneral
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 Anansi’s Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases the everwilder
trail of BlayMiezah
– 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.