Newly elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government in Anambra State, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, has been arrested in Texas, United States (US) over an alleged $3.3 million romance scam.
Nwadialo is one of the 21 All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidates in the 28 September 2024 local government elections in Anambra State who secured all chairmanship and councillorship seats across the 21 local government areas.
If found guilty, he is likely to spend 20 years behind bars.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sok Jiang.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington, the 40-year-old was arrested upon his arrival at an airport in Texas on an indictment returned in the Western District of Washington.
In a report posted on its website, the US Attorney’s Office disclosed that Nwadialo was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud connected to his romance fraud scheme. He will be transported to the Western District of Washington for arraignment.
“All too often the defendants in these romance scams are overseas and unreachable by U.S. law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “I congratulate investigators who are alert to any opportunity to arrest such defendants and hold them accountable.”
According to the indictment and criminal complaint filed in the case, Nwadialo allegedly defrauded victims of more than $3.3 million. According to the indictment, Nwadialo used various versions of the name ‘Giovanni” when he met his victims online on websites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café. Nwadialo used false images for his profile and typically told the victims that he was in the military and deployed overseas so he could not meet the victims in person.
It added that using these personas, Nwadialo invented many reasons he needed the victims to send him money. In one such case in 2020, he indicated he had been fined by the military for revealing his location to the victim. He asked the victim to help him pay the $150,000 fine. In all, that victim was defrauded of at least $2.4 million.
A second victim was contacted in 2019 to help move funds from U.S. accounts to accounts controlled by the defendant and his co-schemers. In this instance Nwadialo represented that he needed the help moving money in connection with his father’s death. The victim transferred at least $330,000 to the accounts controlled by the defendant.
A third victim was defrauded by Nwadialo when he told her that he was investing money for her. He claimed that a check she received from another victim was proceeds from her investments and he had her “reinvest” the money in a specific cryptocurrency account that he controlled. The victim transferred at least $270,000 at Nwadialo’s direction.
Finally, in August 2020, Nwadialo defrauded another victim who he met on an online dating site and caused this victim to transfer at least $310,000 by claiming he needed financial assistance, including help paying for his father’s funeral or his son’s school tuition.
The fourteen counts of wire fraud relate to the communications with Nwadialo and the wiring of funds from victims to the defendant and his co-schemers.
Wire fraud is punishable by up to twenty years in prison in the United States of America.
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