Anambra LG Chairman Arrested in US over Multibillion Romance Scam

By Our Reporter

NEWLY elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government of Anambra State, Hon. Chief Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo has been arrested on arrival at an airport in Texas, United States, on charges linked to a multi-million-dollar romance fraud scheme

The Ogbaru council boss had traveled from Nigeria when he was intercepted by operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and taken into custody.

Nwadialo was reportedly indicted in December 2023 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, faces 14 counts of wire fraud.
He allegedly defrauded victims up to $2 million by posing as a romantic partner deployed in the United States military.

AnambraDaily gathered that the detained Nwadialo would be transported to the Western District of Washington DC for arraignment.

An official statement issued by the U.S. Attorney, Tessa M. Gorman disclosed the challenges of prosecuting defendants involved in overseas romance scams.

The statement read: “All too often, the defendants in these romance scams are overseas and unreachable by U.S. law enforcement.”

Gorman commended the investigators for their persistence in bringing the defendant to justice.

According to the indictment and criminal complaint filed in the case, Nwadialo allegedly defrauded victims of more than $3.3 million.

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.

Gorman said, “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 millino,000 fine. In al, that victim was defrauded of atlas

Meanwhile, 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 dath. The victim transferred at least $330,000 to the accounts controlled by the defendant,” Gorman said.

Gorman explained that 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,” Gorman said.

According to the statement, 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.

Gorman noted that 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 statement said. Gorman further stated that the FBI is investigating the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sok Jiang.