$3.5m Romance Scam: Anambra LG Chairman Bags Five Years Imprisonment In The US 

— Hon. Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo

By Bunmi Onakan 

A 42-year-old Nigerian national, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States for his scheme to steal some $3.5 million from eight different victims via an online romance scam.

Nwadialo, the chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at a Texas airport upon his arrival in the U.S in 2024.

The politician was elected chairperson on 28 September, 2024.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd announced this in a statement issued by the United States Department of Justice on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

Nwadialo was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington.

He was indicted in December 2023 for 14 counts of wire fraud connected to his romance fraud scheme.

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