Saturday, November 9, 2024 - A 40-year-old Nigerian national, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, was allegedly arrested upon his arrival at an airport in Texas, the United States of America on an indictment for multi-million-dollar romance fraud.
According to unconfirmed reports by LIB, Nwadialo,a newly elected Local Government chairman was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud connected to his romance fraud scheme.
The United States Department of Justice announced his arrest in a news release by the Western
District of Washington U.S. Attoney's Office on Tuesday, November 5,
2024.
According to the statement, Nwadialo was traveling from Nigeria when he was arrested.
Nwadialo will be transported to the Western
District of Washington for arraignment.
The accused posed as a deployed soldier on various
dating sites like Match, Zoosk and Christian Cafe, and scammed his victims out
of millions of dollars.
"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.
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.
The charges contained in the indictment are only
allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the FBI.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United
States Attorney Sok Jiang.
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