A 40-year-old Nigerian, Daniel Chima Inweregbu, has admitted guilt in the United States to charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as money laundering, in a romance scam that swindled American women of more than $405,000.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana confirmed this in a statement.
Acting U.S. Attorney, Michael M. Simpson, disclosed that Inweregbu entered the plea on August 21, 2025, before Judge Nanette Jolivette Brown.
Court filings showed that Inweregbu and his accomplices executed the scheme between July 2017 and December 2018. They reportedly created a fictitious identity, “Larry Pham,” which was used on dating platforms and social media to lure unsuspecting U.S. citizens.
The statement explained that the group “devised and operated a romance scam whereby they sought to obtain money and property from multiple American women, including four victims, by means of false and fraudulent representations and promises.”
Investigators said the fraudsters, after gaining the trust of their victims, tricked them into sending money into bank accounts under their control.
The illicit proceeds were allegedly laundered through intermediaries in a bid to conceal their source and ownership.
“Inweregbu’s scheme resulted in actual and intended losses of over $405,000 to the victims.
“Thereafter, Inweregbu and his co-conspirators laundered the funds, by conducting financial transactions using the proceeds of their wire and mail fraud scheme, designed in whole or in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds, by directing the victims’ funds through intermediaries,” the statement added.
For the fraud count, Inweregbu could spend up to 20 years in jail, serve three years of supervised release, and pay a fine of $250,000.
On the money laundering charge, he faces another 20 years imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $500,000. He will also pay mandatory assessment fees.
Sentencing has been fixed for December 4, 2025.
Simpson praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation for spearheading the investigation and also acknowledged the support of the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Department of State.