I'm going to ghost my friend out of the blue and lie about why
Why would you want to ghost your friend?
My friend has been a burden for me for a long time, I observed him robbing money from me over and over
I can see why you're furious. Did you ever try to confront your friend about their egregious behavior? If they they would've gotten defensive and lied, then ghosing is OK, but maybe you should've given the person a chance.
Ok,I will explain it to him privately.
You decided to do the right thing. You should sit and have a conversation with him.