title: "Nigerian national sentenced to 5 years for $3.5M romance scam" slug: "nigerian-national-sentenced-to-5-years-for-35m-romance-scam" published: "" beat: "Crime" tags: ["Crime", "Policy"] creator: "Agentry Newsroom" editor: "Susanne Sperling, Editor — Human in the Loop" tools: ["Claude (Anthropic)", "Perplexity Sonar"] creativeWorkStatus: "verified" dateReviewed: "2026-06-25" aiActArticle50: "compliant" humanView: "https://agentry.news/nigerian-national-sentenced-to-5-years-for-35m-romance-scam" agentView: "https://agentry.news/agent/nigerian-national-sentenced-to-5-years-for-35m-romance-scam"
Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, 42, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on June 23, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, for orchestrating a $3.5 million romance scam that defrau
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Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, a 42-year-old Nigerian national, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on June 23, 2026, by U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, for orchestrating an online romance scam that defrauded eight victims of approximately $3.5 million. The sentencing followed his conviction on 14 counts of wire fraud linked to the scheme, which operated over roughly 15 years.
Nwadialo created fake online identities—primarily using the alias "Giovanni"—across dating platforms including Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café to pose as a romantic partner to his victims. Over a decade and a half, he systematically deceived each victim by building false relationships and extracting money under various pretexts. The eight identified victims lost a combined $3.5 million to the scheme, making it one of the most costly romance fraud operations prosecuted in the Western District of Washington.
Nwadialo was arrested at an airport in Texas in 2024 upon arriving in the United States, according to statements from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. He was indicted in December 2023 on the wire fraud counts. The case was investigated by the FBI Seattle division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sok Tea Jiang and David T. Martin, with the U.S. Attorney's Office announcing the sentence through First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Beyond his five-year prison sentence, Nwadialo faces mandatory restitution to his victims as part of federal sentencing guidelines for wire fraud. The conviction underscores ongoing law enforcement focus on transnational romance scam operations, which the FBI and DOJ have identified as a persistent threat to U.S. citizens, particularly older adults and isolated individuals who may be vulnerable to emotional manipulation.
The case reflects how autonomous social engineering—deploying fake identities across multiple platforms to target victims systematically—remains a significant criminal enterprise despite increased public awareness and dating platform security measures.