Barely a month in office, newly-elected Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government in Anambra State, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, has been arrested in the United State.
He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on charges of internet fraud which is attributed to his alleged involvement in a romance scam that defrauded several victims of over $2 million.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sok Jiang is handling the prosecution.
Nwadialo is facing 14 counts of wire fraud, each linked to the alleged romance scam. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in a U.S. federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, the 40-year-old was arrested upon his arrival at a Texas airport.
The indictment for his arrest was issued in December 2023, and he is expected to be transferred to Washington for arraignment.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman disclosed the challenges of prosecuting defendants involved in overseas romance scams, stating, “All too often, the defendants in these romance scams are overseas and unreachable by U.S. law enforcement.”
The charges against Nwadialo stem from his activities on several popular dating websites, including Match, Zoosk, and Christian Cafe. There, he allegedly used the alias “Giovanni” and created false identities with fabricated images, often portraying himself as a military officer deployed overseas.
In one of the alleged scams, Nwadialo was alleged to have convinced a victim to send over $2.4 million, claiming he had been fined $150,000 by the military for revealing his location.
Another victim was persuaded to assist in transferring funds from U.S. accounts, reportedly to help with the death of his father. This victim allegedly transferred at least $330,000 to Nwadialo’s controlled accounts.
Further details in the indictment describe how Nwadialo targeted another woman, convincing her to invest in a cryptocurrency account under his control. This scheme reportedly resulted in over $270,000 in losses.
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.