Anambra Council Chairman Sentence To Five Years Jail Over Alleged $3.5 million Fraud

Anambra Local Government Chairman Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, 42, has been sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison for an online romance scam that defrauded eight victims of about $3.5 million.

Nwadialo, chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area in Anambra State, was arrested by FBI agents at a Texas airport after arriving in the United States in 2024.

He was sentenced Monday at the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, after being indicted in December 2023 on 14 counts of wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright called the crime “devastating,” saying it ruined lives financially and emotionally.

Prosecutors said Nwadialo and his associates targeted vulnerable, often older, widowed or divorced victims over about 15 years, using fake stories to gain trust and steal money.