A Nigerian national pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Boston to his involvement in the theft of more than $2.5 million from six romance scam victims by transferring their money to cryptocurrency accounts that he controlled.
Charles Uchenna Nwadavid, 35, of Abuja, Nigeria, pleaded guilty to mail fraud, aiding and abetting money laundering and money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Sept. 23, 2025.
Nwadavid was arrested in April 2025 upon arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport after a flight from the United Kingdom. In January 2024, a federal grand jury in Boston indicted Nwadavid on charges of mail fraud and money laundering.
According to the charging documents, “romance scams” recruit victims through advertisements for online relationships on dating or social media websites. Individuals perpetuating romance scams create fictitious profiles and then use them to gain victims’ trust through a purported romantic relationship.
Perpetrators then direct their victims to send money or to conduct financial transactions involving other victims’ money under false pretences, such as an urgent need for money to secure a multimillion-dollar inheritance or to pay for an unexpected hospitalisation.
Between approximately 2016 and September 2019, Nwadavid participated in romance scams that tricked victims into sending money abroad. In an effort to conceal the ultimate recipient of the victims’ funds, a victim from Massachusetts was tricked 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 mail fraud charge provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the loss to the victim, restitution, and forfeiture.
The money laundering charges provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the laundering transactions, restitution, and forfeiture.
The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. 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.
