BOSTON — A Nigerian man pleaded guilty in federal court this week to defrauding multiple victims — including a Massachusetts resident — of more than $2.5 million through an international romance scam and laundering the funds through cryptocurrency accounts he controlled.
According to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts on Thursday, June 26, 2025, Charles Uchenna Nwadavid, 35, of Abuja, Nigeria, entered his guilty plea on Wednesday to charges of mail fraud and money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Sept. 23, 2025. Nwadavid was arrested in April after arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from the United Kingdom. He had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in January 2024.
According to prosecutors, Nwadavid participated in a scheme that used fake online dating profiles to lure victims into fictitious romantic relationships. Victims were manipulated into sending money or conducting financial transactions under false pretenses, such as urgent medical expenses or unlocking large inheritances.
Between 2016 and 2019, Nwadavid used a Massachusetts-based victim to receive more than $2.5 million from five other victims located throughout the United States. The funds were then transferred through a series of cryptocurrency transactions to accounts he accessed and controlled via LocalBitcoins, an online crypto exchange platform, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in its statement.
The mail fraud and money laundering charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines up to $250,000 and $500,000, respectively, or twice the value of the property involved in the laundering transactions, restitution and forfeiture. Nwadavid also faces deportation after serving any sentence.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth B. Kosto and Mackenzie A. Queenin.
