TACOMA, Wash. — A U.S. District Court in Tacoma sentenced Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, a 42-year-old Nigerian man to five years in prison for stealing $3.5 million dollars through an online romance scam.
The scam targeted eight different victims with most being older, divorced, or widowed for 15 years.
“[It is] not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives--not only financial lives,” U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright said, adding that the crime was “devastating.”
Nwadialo was indicted back in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud and arrested in Texas after arriving in the U.S. in 2024.
Online, Nwadialo would often pose under the screen name of ‘Giovanni” and targeted users on Zoosk, Christian Café, and Match.
In order to get around meeting victims in person, Nwadialo told them he was in serving in the military overseas.
On one occasion, Nwadialo asked a victim to send him $150,000 to pay a fee to the military for telling the victim his overseas location.
He told another victim that he needed money to help pay for his son’s tuition, as well as his own father’s funeral.
“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,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said. “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.”
Victims often drained their own bank accounts to assist Nwadialo --some even selling their houses.
While the U.S District Court sentenced Nwadialo to five years, his victims may suffer from his actions forever.
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