Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, the newly elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area (LGA) in Anambra State, Nigeria, was arrested on arrival at an airport in Texas, U.S., on Friday, following an indictment linked to a multi-million-dollar romance fraud scheme.
The 40-year-old Nigerian national faces 14 counts of wire fraud after allegedly defrauding victims out of more than $3.3 million.
Nwadialo was traveling from Nigeria when he was taken into custody and is set to be transported to the Western District of Washington for arraignment.
The charges stem from a scheme where Nwadialo allegedly posed as a U.S. military officer deployed overseas to scam victims he met on online dating platforms such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café.
According to the indictment filed in December 2023, Nwadialo used various aliases, including the name ‘Giovanni’, and fabricated stories to persuade victims to send him money. He claimed to be in need of financial assistance due to military fines, family emergencies, and supposed investments gone wrong. One victim alone was defrauded of $2.4 million after being told Nwadialo had been fined by the military for revealing his location.
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman commended the persistence of investigators in bringing Nwadialo to justice, stating that romance scam defendants are often difficult to apprehend due to their location overseas. “All too often, the defendants in these romance scams are overseas and unreachable by U.S. law enforcement,” she said.
The FBI has been investigating the case, and the charges, if convicted, could carry up to 20 years in prison per count. Nwadialo’s arrest highlights the growing concern over international fraud schemes targeting vulnerable individuals online.
The charges are allegations, and Nwadialo is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sok Jiang.
