Ogbaru LG chairman Franklin Nwadialu has been sentenced to five years in US prison for running a romance scam that swindled lonely widows and divorcees out of millions.
A Nigerian politician just traded his council seat for a prison cell — and a fake Italian alias.
Franklin Nwadialu, chairman of Ogbaru LGA in Anambra State, has been sentenced to five years in a US federal prison for masterminding a romance scam that bled eight victims of over $3.5 million, according to Peoples Gazette, citing the US Department of Justice.
Posing online as “Giovanni,” Nwadialu lured widows and divorcees into fake relationships, then hit them with sob stories and fabricated emergencies to drain their savings.
A federal judge in Tacoma called the scam “devastating,” citing victims left financially ruined and emotionally shattered. Nwadialu was arrested in Texas and sentenced Tuesday — still technically Ogbaru’s chairman.
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