Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, a 40-year-old newly elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria, was arrested upon arriving at a Texas airport. He faces charges connected to a multi-million-dollar romance fraud scheme.
Indicted in December 2023 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Nwadialo is charged with 14 counts of wire fraud. Authorities allege he scammed victims out of nearly $2 million by posing as a military romantic partner stationed in the U.S.
Nwadialo was apprehended while traveling from Nigeria and is now to be transported to the Western District of Washington for arraignment. U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman remarked on the difficulties of prosecuting overseas defendants involved in romance scams, stating, “All too often, the defendants in these romance scams are overseas and unreachable by U.S. law enforcement.”
She praised investigators for their tireless efforts in bringing Nwadialo to justice. According to the indictment and criminal complaint, he allegedly defrauded victims of more than $3.3 million.
Using various aliases like “Giovanni,” Nwadialo met victims on dating sites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café. He employed fake images for his profiles and claimed to be deployed overseas, leading victims to believe that in-person meetings were impossible.
Gorman explained, “Using these personas, Nwadialo concocted numerous reasons for victims to send him money.” In one instance, in 2020, he claimed he had been fined by the military for revealing his location and requested the victim’s help in paying a $1 million fine. Ultimately, that victim lost a substantial amount.
In another case from 2019, Nwadialo contacted a victim under the pretense of needing help to transfer funds from U.S. accounts to those controlled by him and his accomplices. He had claimed this was linked to his father’s death, resulting in the victim transferring at least $330,000.
Moreover, he defrauded a third victim by asserting he was investing money on her behalf. Nwadialo informed her that a check she received from another victim was from her investments and instructed her to “reinvest” the money in a specific cryptocurrency account he controlled, leading her to transfer at least $270,000.
In August 2020, Nwadialo defrauded another victim he met online, soliciting at least $310,000 under the guise of needing financial aid for his father’s funeral or his son’s education.
The 14 counts of wire fraud stem from the communications with Nwadialo and the transfer of funds from victims to him and his co-schemers. Gorman noted that wire fraud can incur sentences of up to twenty years in prison. “The charges in the indictment are merely allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the statement clarified. Gorman added that the FBI is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sok Jiang.
