In a high-profile case of alleged international fraud, Franklin Nwadialo, the recently elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area (LGA) in Anambra, Nigeria, has been arrested in Texas, USA, over accusations of orchestrating a $3.3 million romance scam.
The United States Department of Justice revealed that Nwadialo, 40, now faces a 14-count charge for wire fraud, with potential penalties of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Nwadialo was apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) upon his arrival in Texas. According to officials, he is expected to be transferred to the Western District of Washington for his initial arraignment, where details of the alleged scam will be further scrutinised.
The Justice Department’s indictment outlines that Nwadialo used various aliases, including “Giovanni,” to connect with victims on dating platforms like Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café.
Posing as a military personnel deployed overseas, he allegedly avoided meeting his victims in person, instead creating compelling, fictitious scenarios to persuade them to send money.
“Using these personas, Nwadialo invented many reasons he needed the victims to send him money,” the Justice Department stated.
One example involved a claim that the military had fined him for revealing his location to a victim, resulting in a request for $150,000. The victim, deceived by the story, reportedly lost $2.4 million.
Another account describes how Nwadialo convinced a different victim to move $330,000 from U.S. accounts to those he controlled under the pretext of funeral costs for his father.
“Nwadialo represented that he needed help moving money due to his father’s death,” the statement added.
In a separate instance, Nwadialo reportedly promised a third victim returns on a cryptocurrency investment. Controlling the victim’s account, he redirected $270,000 for personal use.
Assistant United States Attorney Sok Jiang is prosecuting the case, marking it as a notable example of cross-border financial crimes that prey on vulnerable individuals through deceptive online relationships.
