Sunday, December 14, 2025 - A 40-year-old Nigerian man, Daniel Chima Inweregbu, was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment in New Orleans for participating in years-long romance scam victimizing multiple United States citizens.
Inweregbu was sentenced by United States District Judge
Nanette Jolivette Brown after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to
commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and use of an assumed name to commit a mail
fraud scheme, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341,
1342, 1343 and 1349, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of
Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1956(a)(1)(B)(i), 1957, and
1956(h).
Acting U.S. Attorney
Michael M. Simpson made the announcement in a press statement issued by the
Department of Justice on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
The charges stemmed from Inweregbu's role in a lengthy
scheme targeting American citizens.
Inweregbu was arrested when he travelled from Nigeria to the
United Kingdom and was extradited to the United States to face the charges
pending against him in July 2025.
Judge Brown also sentenced him to 3 years of supervised
release following imprisonment, payment of a $100 special assessment fee and
payment of restitution of $166,400.
According to court documents, a “romance scam” was a
confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim,
gaining their affection, and then using that goodwill to commit fraud.
Fraudulent acts may involve obtaining access to a victim's money, bank
accounts, credit cards, passports, e-mail accounts, or national identification
numbers; convincing the victims to transmit things of value to the perpetrator
or his witting or unwitting co-conspirators; or inducing victims
unintentionally to commit or participate in the commission of financial fraud
against third parties on behalf of the perpetrator.
Between at least July 1, 2017, and December 16, 2018,
Inweregbu and his co-conspirators devised and operated a “romance scam” whereby
they sought to obtain money and property from multiple American women,
including Victim 1, a female born in 1965, Victim 2, a female born in March
1974, Victim 3, a female born in 1970, and Victim 4, a female born in 1976, by
means of false and fraudulent representations and promises.
Specifically, Inweregbu and his co-conspirators created
profiles on social media and online dating sites using the alias “Larry Pham,”
purportedly a middle-aged Canadian-born Vietnamese male, to attract female
victims.
The co-conspirators, including Inweregbu used online
messaging platforms and email, to contact victims, introduce themselves, and
appeal to victims’ longing for companionship. If the target responded
favorably, Inweregbu and his co-conspirators began to cultivate a romantic
relationship that emotionally attached the victims to “Larry Pham.”
Once the relationship was established, the defendant and his
co-conspirators, posing as Larry Pham, requested victims send them money under
various scams and ruses to domestic bank accounts they opened and managed.
As explained in the Factual Basis, Inweregbu's scheme resulted
in actual and intended losses to the
four identified victims of over $405,000.
Thereafter, Inweregbu and his co-conspirators laundered the
funds by conducting financial transactions using the proceeds of their wire and
mail fraud scheme, designed in whole or in part to conceal and disguise the
nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds, by directing
the funds through intermediaries.
U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation in investigating this matter and expressed appreciation
for the great support provided by United States Department of Justice Office of
International Affairs and the United States Department of State. Assistant
United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, Chief of the Public Integrity Unit, was
in charge of the prosecution.
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