An American couple – Mathew Shaw and Brooke Shaw – are accusing US-based Kenyan businessman Julius Mwale and his wife Kaila Mwale of defrauding them US$ 870,000 (KSh 112 million), according to an affidavit from the district court of Utah.
The Shaws claim that Julius Mwale and his wife received US$1.7 million from them in 2022 after they were misled into believing the money would be invested in a geological survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The geological survey was meant to establish whether it would be fruitful to build infrastructure for a battery manufacturing plant in the area, and the Mwales assured the couple that the US$1.7 million would be regarded as a loan with a 20% annual return.The presentations made by the Shaws also reveal that the Kenyan couple had falsely presented themselves as billionaires to lure them into investing in dubious projects.
“The Mwales claimed that their programs included the development of the surrounding area, including building a luxury golf course on donated land and building rental homes on farmers’ properties so they could generate income,” said the court affidavit.
“The Mwales claimed they had built the largest, most advanced hospital in the world, with state-of-the-art technology, five thousand beds, and an advanced cancer treatment facility,” the document continues.
The Shaws visited Kenya in August 2022 and determined that Mwale’s projects, the hospital included, were a sham. According to their submissions, only one wing of the hospital was working – which was nothing more than a dilapidated clinic with no cancer facility as purported.
The American couple requested to withdraw their funding in September 2022 after discovering the proclaimed projects were a ruse. The repayment was delayed for 120 days but by March 2023, the debt was still unsettled. Despite several loan modification agreements with the Mwales, by January this year, US$870,000 remained unpaid.
Julius Mwale and his wife reside in the US and have properties in California and New York. The Shaws are requesting that a jury trial that will seek to award them damages. An affidavit signed by Kaila Mwale in April last year shows that she acknowledges the debt owed to the Shaws.
“The circumstances of this case are such that it would be unjust for the Mwales to retain the benefit conveyed by the Shaws without paying for the benefit. Equity demands that the Shaws be compensated for the benefit they conferred upon the Mwales by the return of at least US$870,000 so conveyed,” the court document concludes.
Julius Mwale owns the Mwale Medical and Technological City, which was set to be demolished in 2017 by the Kakamega county government for allegedly violating the county’s planning act. It consists of two phases; Phase one, a residential and shopping complex and Phase Two, a hospital. The demolition notice was then blocked by the high court.