On the morning of January 6, 2026, Ghana’s former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, was arrested in Washington, D.C., by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the United States.
The operation to arrest him, according to sources, appeared targeted, unlike the ongoing raids and swoops at factories and public places where mass arrests by ICE are conducted.
Ken Ofori-Atta was emerging from a magnificent luxury apartment building, where he had been living in the U.S. ICE, when agents surrounded him, led him into a vehicle, and drove him away to a detention facility 89 miles away.
He was driven to the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia, about an hour and a half drive from where he was arrested.
Mr. Ofori-Atta was arrested at the entrance of the Westlight apartment complex in Washington, D.C. The Westlight building is located at 1111 24th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
Sources say Ken Ofori-Atta, until his arrest and detention, lived in the Westlight building with his son and his wife.
The Westlight Building is less than a mile from the White House, about 20 minutes’ walk.
Located in the affluent West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the Westlight building is renowned for its security and proximity to some of the city’s most significant landmarks, attracting affluent and prominent residents.
The immediate past Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, has lived in the Westlight Building, where Ken Ofori-Atta now lives. She moved out after she was sworn into office in January 2021.
In April 2021, Kamala Harris listed her two-bedroom condo at the Westlight building for sale, and it was bought for $1.85 million.
Ken Ofori-Atta, whose date of birth is November 7, 1959, left Ghana on January 4, 2025. He departed from Terminal 3 of Kotoka International Airport and traveled on United Airlines Flight 997 to Washington, D.C., in the United States.
He travelled on a Ghanaian passport that has valid visas to the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
Ken Ofori-Atta’s U.S. visa will expire on February 14, 2026, about three months from now. His UK Visa will expire on April 21, 2032, and his Canadian visa will expire on May 31, 2031.
The Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has revealed that Ken Ofori-Atta’s U.S. visa was revoked in July 2025, and the U.S. Department of State gave him up to November 29, 2025, to leave the United States.
Charged together with Ken Ofori-Atta in the SML scandal is Ernest Darko Akore. Born on February 5, 1958, Mr. Akore left Ghana on November 19, 2024. He travelled to New York on Delta Airlines Flight 156. He departed through Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport.
Ernest Darko Akore travelled on a ten-year U.S. passport, which expires on August 4, 2031.
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta has been charged with corruption and corruption-related offences in Ghana for his role in the SML scandal, and the government of Ghana has requested his extradition from the government of the United States.
In July 2025, a source close to Ken Ofori-Atta told me he had no intention of coming back to Ghana to face justice, citing, among others, the likelihood that he would be humiliated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) if he submitted himself.
His arrest and detention by ICE, his lawyers in Ghana say, relates to “the status of his current stay in the United States.”
He is expected to appear in court on January 20, 2026, in the United States regarding his current arrest
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