‘He spun tale after tale’: Nigerian man sentenced for $3.5M romance scam targeting 8 victims

A 42-year-old Nigerian national was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for his scheme to steal roughly $3.5 million from eight different victims through an online romance scam.

Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo was arrested at a Texas airport after he arrived in the U.S. in 2024. Nwadialo was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud in connection with his romance fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright labeled the crime “devastating,” and it was “not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives—not only financial lives” but also the victims suffered “shame, depression, and isolation from their own family.”

“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 stated. “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.”

Nigerian man used fake military persona to manipulate victims out of millions

Nwadialo defrauded victims of more than $3.5 million, according to records filed in the case. Nwadialo used various aliases and versions of the name “Giovanni” when he first connected with victims online on dating websites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café.

Nwadialo would also use fake images and information on his profile, telling victims that he was in the military and deployed overseas, so he was unable to meet the victims in person. Using the various personas, Nwadialo would create several reasons why he needed victims to send him money.

In one instance, Nwadialo told a victim that he had been fined by the military for revealing his location to the victim, and had asked the victim to help pay his fake $150,000 fine.

Other manipulative ploys were used by Nwadialo to convince his victims to send him money. Nwadialo often targeted older, widowed, or divorced individuals. He told one victim that he needed help moving money in connection with his father’s death, and he told another victim that he was going to invest money for her. Nwadialo also claimed he needed financial assistance for his father’s funeral and his son’s school tuition.

In asking for a five-year prison sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court:

“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.”

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