Afederal court in Boston, United States, has convicted Charles Nwadavid, the chief executive officer of construction giant Nec Bullion, of fraud after he was found guilty of a $2.5 million romance scam.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Boston division, announced this on Thursday.
Mr Nwadavid, 35, had tricked and defrauded his victims, residents in Massachusetts, of over $2.5 million and wired the money into cryptocurrency accounts abroad.
A statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said the Abuja businessman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of mail fraud, aiding and abetting money laundering, and money laundering, prompting U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to convict him and schedule his sentencing for September 23, 2025.
A federal jury in Boston had, in January 2024, indicted Mr Nwadavid on charges of mail fraud and money laundering before he was arrested in April 2025 upon arrival on a flight from the United Kingdom to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
According to the charging document, the defendant used romance scams to recruit victims through advertisements for online relationships on dating or social media platforms by creating “fictitious profiles and then use them to gain victims’ trust through a purported romantic relationship.”
“Between in or about 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 victims’ names from overseas to transfer the victims’ funds to accounts he controlled at LocalBitcoins, an online cryptocurrency platform,” the document said.
A defendant convicted of mail fraud faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the amount of the loss to the victim, restitution, and forfeiture.
Also, anyone found guilty of money laundering will be sentenced to 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.
The defendant, after serving his yet-to-be-declared sentence, also faces deportation to Nigeria.
