Asamoah Gyan has been ordered by the Accra High Court to pay GHS1,000,000 to journalist Osarfo Anthony.

In 2015, Osarfo was prosecuted for conspiracy to extort money from the former Black Stars captain and his manager Samuel Anim Addo. However, Osarfo was acquitted and discharged on March 20, 2019.

Upon his acquittal, Osarfo sued Gyan and Addo for maliciously prosecuting him.

Subsequently, after praying the court to award him a cost of one million Ghana cedis as general damages, legal fees, and any other cost the court considers due him, Osarfo won the lawsuit today, December 8, 2023.

“I just won my GHS1m malicious prosecution suit against former Ghana Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan, and his manager. It has been a gutsy-8-year criminal and civil legal battle. Time vindicates me, so here I am.

“It’s a pyrrhic victory, but there’s nothing nobler than facing your accuser mano-a-mano, clearing your name, and compensation ruled in your favour for damages suffered.

“With malice, they sullied my image with unfettered, ill-themed allegations – and subjected me to public animus. In the end…there’s no harvest justification. To all who have in one way or the other been accused falsely before, you can relate, let’s ride on the crest of a new wave together,” he remarked to the media.

Justice Dr Ernest Owusu-Dapaa of the Court of Appeal, presided over the case, sitting with additional responsibility at the High Court, Financial 1. At 10:00 AM, he passed his ruling.

A June 2015 Daily Guide story alleged one Sarah Kwabla had been raped and sodomised by former Sutherland striker Asamoah Gyan. 

Subsequently, Ms Kwabla contacted Osarfo with vivid images of the alleged sexual assault: a bloody anus and thighs. She added alleged WhatsApp chats with Gyan, in which were voice notes believed to be Gyan’s. In said voice notes, the voice, believed to be Gyan's, appealed to Ms Kwabla not to show the supposed evidence of the violation to the public.

When Osarfo, then a writer with GHBase.com, reached out to Gyan's camp for reaction, he was informed Ms Kwabla's allegations were untruths. Gyan's lawyer insisted Gyan and Ms Kwabla had consensual sex. Osarfo, having an allegation and a response from the accused, published the story.

One Nii Armah Amarteifio later reached out to the publisher Osarfo worked for, appealing that the controversial Gyan story be spiked. He was acting on advicement by Gyan's manager, it is said, and, to the publisher, promised handsome financial rewards from Gyan upon compliance.

Unawares to Osarfo Anthony and the media company he worked for, Gyan's crew reported them to the police, accusing them of attempting to extort money from the former Sutherland star striker. When Osarfo collected the promised money, on behalf of the publisher, he was picked by the police.

In Circuit Court 9 in Accra, in a criminal trial dubbed 'The Republic vs. Osarfo Anthony and three others', bearing suit number: D2/60/16, Osarfo was prosecuted for conspiracy to extort money from Asamoah Gyan. He was represented by Maurice Ampaw ESQ. His employer, on the other hand, was represented by Apanga Lamtiig ESQ.