A Nigerian man has admitted to committing a romance scam worth over $2.5 million. He pleaded guilty to transferring money from six victims into cryptocurrency accounts under his control.
The man who has been identified as Charles Uchenna Nwadavid, admitted to aiding and abetting money laundering and money laundering in a court in the United States.
In a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, it was revealed that Nwadavid arrested in April 2025 after arriving on a flight from the United Kingdom to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on charges of mail fraud and money laundering in January 2024.
His criminal record dates to 2016 when he participated in romance scams that tricked victims into sending money abroad. Nwadavid tricked a US citizen from Massachusetts into receiving funds from five other victims around the United States.
“The victim then passed the funds to Nwadavid through a series of cryptocurrency transactions. Nwadavid repeatedly accessed accounts in the victim’s name from overseas, to transfer the victims’ funds to accounts he controlled at LocalBitcoins, an online cryptocurrency platform,” the statement read in part.
is likely to get sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the loss to the victim, restitution and forfeiture for mail fraud charges a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the laundering transactions, restitution and forfeiture for money laundering.
In addition to this, Nwadavid may be deported to Nigeria upon completion of any sentence imposed.
These sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
