Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, the newly elected Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State has been arrested in Texas, United States of America (USA) over his alleged involvement in internet fraud.
News About Nigeria gathered that Nwadialo was involved in an alleged romance scam and scammed his unsuspecting victims of $3.3 million.
According to the U.S. Office of Attorney for the Western District of Washington, the Anambra politician was arrested upon his arrival at a Texas airport following an indictment for his arrest which was issued in December 2023.
The US Attorney’s office also revealed that the 40-year-old scammed several victims from popular sites including Zoosk, Christian Café and Match using the name “Giovanni.”
The politician was said to have lied to his victims that he could not meet with them physically because he is a military officer deployed overseas.
Giving details on his offense, the US attorney revealed that Nwadialo convinced one of the women to send him over $2.4 million, claiming he had been fined $150,000 by the military for revealing his location.
Also, among many others, he deceived another of his victims into sending him $330,000 in order to fund his father’s burial which never happened.
According to US laws, if found guilty, the LG Chairman who was elected under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the September 28 LG Polls would be jailed for 20 years.
The Anambra State Government is yet to officially speak on the shocking news, leaving many Nigerians wondering why a leader of his caliber would get involved in such a scandal.
