A Williston, North Dakota man has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty in a money laundering conspiracy linked to a romance scam in the Eastern District of Texas. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
Daniel Boadu, 36, received a sentence of 54 months in federal prison from U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale on August 29, 2025. He was also ordered to pay $4.7 million in restitution.
Court records show that between August 2015 and February 2021, Boadu worked with others to defraud people through romance scams. In these schemes, fake profiles are posted on dating websites across the United States and internationally. Scammers use email, instant messaging, text messaging, smartphone applications, and phone calls to build trust with victims seeking companionship or romance. Once trust is established, scammers convince victims to send money for various reasons.
Victims transfer funds or deposit money into bank accounts located in the United States. Account holders then forward the fraudulently obtained funds to those running the scam while often keeping a portion for themselves. According to authorities, Boadu served as one of these account holders within the country.
The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anand Varadarajan.
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