Anambra LG Chairman Jailed in US Over $3.5M Romance Scam

An online imposter’s fifteen-year campaign of manipulation has finally hit a brick wall in a United States federal courtroom.

​ValidViewNetwork reports that the Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government in Anambra State, Chief Francis Ikechukwu Nwadialo, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by a U.S. court for executing a massive romance scam that defrauded multiple victims out of an estimated $3.5 million. According to the official statement from the United States Department of Justice, “Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo was arrested at an airport in Texas upon his arrival in the U.S. in 2024. He was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud connected to his romance fraud scheme.” The Justice Department specified that the 42-year-old politician, who frequently shuttled between Nigeria and America, “defrauded victims of more than $3.5 million. Nwadialo used various versions of the name ‘Giovanni” when he met his victims online on dating websites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café.”

​At his sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright called the crime “devastating,” noting that it is “not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives—not only financial lives” but also from the nonmonetary harms the victims endured, such as “shame, depression, and isolation from their own family.” ValidViewNetwork reports that the federal prosecutors successfully argued for the five-year term due to the severe and long-lasting psychological and financial destruction inflicted upon vulnerable, older individuals who were targeted by Nwadialo and his network of co-conspirators. “This defendant preyed on those already suffering from the loss of loved ones or other heartbreak. For some 15 years he upended the lives of people he never met,” stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd, who added, “He spun tale after tale to gain the victims’ trust and their money – even claiming to run a non-profit providing services for autistic children. No scheme was too low for these conspirators.”

ADVERTISEMENT

​Case files revealed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) paint a grim picture of the tactics utilized by the local government official. “For years, Mr. Nwadialo preyed on vulnerable victims looking for relationships online, gained their trust, and told them lies to steal their life savings totaling millions of dollars,” explained W. Mike Harrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, noting that “Fortunately, although he operated his romance scams from overseas, Mr. Nwadialo ultimately traveled to the United States where he could be arrested and held accountable for his crimes here in the Western District of Washington.” Nwadialo routinely deployed false profiles, posing as a military officer deployed overseas to avoid meeting his victims in person while inventing complex emergencies. In one specific instance, he convinced a victim to pay a fabricated $150,000 military fine, while telling others that he required funds for his father’s funeral, his son’s school tuition, or fictitious investment opportunities.

​The profound wreckage left in the wake of the operation was a primary focus for the prosecution team, led by Assistant United States Attorneys Sok Tea Jiang and David T. Martin. Prosecutors noted to the court that “Nwadialo’s offense was extremely serious and caused significant harm. For over 15 years, he and his confederates manipulated older, often widowed or divorced, individuals with savings into believing they had serious romantic partners for their own financial benefit. One victim was in a “relationship” for three years with Nwadialo’s fake online persona before learning the truth from the FBI. Another victim was a widow who thought she had found love again following her husband’s death. Instead, she lost her home and life savings and, even now, continues to suffer financially from the taxes, fees, and penalties she incurred from liquidating her accounts and home to help ‘Giovanni.’ Try as they might, those victims may never truly recover from Nwadialo’s conduct.” This high-profile sentencing sends an unmistakable, chilling message to international fraudsters that no matter how far away they hide or how high their political office, the reach of global law enforcement will ensure that justice eventually catches up with those who prey on human heartbreak, ensuring this localized political figure swaps his executive seat for a cold federal prison cell, ValidViewNetwork reports.