A Nigerian man residing in Abuja, Charles Uchenna Nwadavid, 34, has been apprehended in the United States in connection with an alleged $2.5 million romance scam, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).
Nwadavid was arrested on Monday, April 7, 2025, upon his arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on a flight from the United Kingdom. He made his initial court appearance on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, and is currently detained pending further legal proceedings in Boston, where he was indicted in January 2024 on charges of mail fraud and money laundering.
The DoJ alleges that between 2016 and September 2019, Nwadavid was involved in romance scams that defrauded at least six victims of over $2.5 million. He is accused of deceiving these individuals into sending money overseas and subsequently laundering the illicit funds through cryptocurrency accounts under his control.
To conceal his activities, Nwadavid allegedly utilized a Massachusetts resident, identified as Victim 1, to receive funds from five other victims across the United States. He then allegedly manipulated Victim 1 into transferring her own money, along with the funds from the other victims, to him through cryptocurrency transactions. The DoJ further claims that Nwadavid accessed Victim 1’s accounts remotely to transfer the stolen money to his accounts on the online cryptocurrency platform, LocalBitcoins.
The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that Nwadavid is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However, if convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment for each count of mail fraud and money laundering. The statement also indicated that Nwadavid would be subject to deportation from the United States upon completion of any prison sentence he may receive.
