Nwadialu, an elected council chairman and member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was sentenced on Tuesday by the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington.
Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialu, the chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, has been sentenced to five years in prison by a United States court for his role in a romance scam that defrauded victims of more than $3.5 million.
Nwadialu, an elected council chairman and member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was sentenced on Tuesday by the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Nwadialu was convicted for participating in a coordinated online fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable individuals, particularly widows and divorcees, over a period spanning more than 15 years.
The DoJ said the Anambra politician was arrested at an airport in Texas in 2024 and later faced a 14-count indictment for wire fraud linked to the romance scam operation.
Prosecutors told the court that Nwadialu and his accomplices created fake online identities to deceive victims into believing they were involved in genuine romantic relationships.
One of the victims reportedly maintained an online relationship with one of Nwadialu’s fictitious personas for three years before discovering through an FBI investigation that the relationship was fraudulent.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright described the impact of the crime as devastating.
“It is not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives—not only financial lives,” Cartwright said.
The judge added that the victims suffered severe emotional and psychological consequences, including shame, depression and isolation from their families.
Investigators said Nwadialu commonly used variations of the name “Giovanni” on dating platforms including Match, Zoosk and Christian Café.
To gain the trust of victims, he allegedly used fake photographs and fabricated personal details, often claiming to be a military officer deployed overseas and therefore unable to meet in person.
According to court documents, Nwadialu invented various emergencies and financial difficulties to persuade victims to send him money.
In one instance, he allegedly told a victim that the military had imposed a $150,000 fine on him for revealing his location and requested financial assistance to settle the supposed penalty.
The Department of Justice said Nwadialu specifically targeted older people, many of whom were widowed or divorced and seeking companionship.
One victim, a widow who believed she had found love again after her husband’s death, reportedly lost her home and life savings after liquidating assets to send money to the scammer.
“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’,” the DoJ said.
The department added that despite the conviction and sentence, many of the victims may never fully recover from the financial and emotional damage caused by the fraud scheme.
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