A 40-year-old Nigerian national, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, was arrested on arrival at an airport in Texas on charges linked to a multi-million-dollar romance fraud scheme.
Nwadialo, indicted in December
2023 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington,
faces 14 counts of wire fraud.
The defendant allegedly scammed
victims out of up to $2 million by posing as a romantic partner deployed in the
U.S. military.
Nwadialo was traveling from
Nigeria when he was taken into custody. He is now set to be transported to the
Western District of 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.”
She 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 the $150,000 fine. In all, that victim was defrauded of at least
$2.4 million.”
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 death. 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.
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