Widow Lost Her Home to a Man She Met Online

Three Years

For three years, she believed he was real.

The man calling himself ‘Giovanni’ on Match, Zoosk, and Christian Cafe was not. He was Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, 42, a Nigerian national who had spent 15 years building false romantic relationships with older women - many of them widowed, divorced, and trusting. On June 23, 2026, a federal judge in Tacoma, Washington, sentenced Nwadialo to five years in federal prison for orchestrating a $3.5 million online romance fraud targeting eight victims.

‘Not an exaggeration to say it ruined lives,’ U.S. District Judge Tiffany Cartwright said from the bench. The harm, she said, extended far beyond the financial.

Eight People, 15 Years

Nwadialo’s victims were primarily older adults who had lost spouses or marriages and sought connection on dating platforms. He typically told them he was a military officer deployed overseas, which he used to explain why he could not meet them in person. After weeks or months of sustained contact, he would present financial emergencies requiring wire transfers or direct deposits.

One victim maintained what she believed was a three-year romantic relationship with his fictional persona before FBI investigators told her the truth. Another, a widow who thought she had found love again after losing her husband, lost her home and life savings - liquidating accounts to send money to someone who did not exist. She continues to face financial consequences, prosecutors said.

‘This defendant preyed on those already suffering from the loss of loved ones or other heartbreak,’ said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Floyd at sentencing. ‘For some 15 years, he upended the lives of people he never met. He spun tale after tale to gain the victims’ trust and their money.’

How 15 Years of Fraud Worked

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington and court documents, Nwadialo operated under various versions of the name ‘Giovanni’ across Match, Zoosk, and Christian Cafe. He used stolen photographs and false personal information. When victims questioned his inability to meet, he explained it through his claimed military deployment overseas.

He fabricated a series of financial needs: a $150,000 military fine for revealing his location, funds to move money connected to his father’s death, investment management on behalf of victims, school tuition for a son, and funeral expenses. In one case, he led a victim to transfer more than $330,000. In another, more than $270,000. In a third, more than $310,000.

Nwadialo was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in 2024 upon arriving from the United Kingdom. He was subsequently indicted on 14 counts of wire fraud.

Five Years, Federal Prison

At sentencing on June 23, 2026, Judge Cartwright described the victims as people who had already survived profound loss. Their vulnerability, she said, was not naivety - it was grief. The scheme exploited both.

She sentenced Nwadialo to five years in federal prison, to be followed by supervised release. As a foreign national, he is subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence.

The Cost of ‘Giovanni’

Eight people sent their savings, their home equity, and three years of their emotional lives to a man whose face they had never seen.

One of them lost her house. She is still paying for it financially. The man who took everything from her is in federal custody in Washington State. He will serve five years.

References: Nigerian national sentenced to five years in prison for $3.5 million romance scam | Victims lost homes and savings in $3.5M romance scam, judge says lives were ruined

The Truth In Facts team was assisted by generative AI technology in creating this content