North Dakota man sentenced in east Texas romance scam, ordered to pay over $4.7 million in restitution

PLANO, Texas – A Williston, North Dakota, man has been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution in a money laundering conspiracy in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.

Daniel Boadu, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale on August 29, 2025.   Boadu was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $4.7 million.

According to information presented in court, from at least August 2015 through February 2021, Boadu conspired with others to defraud individuals in what is commonly known as a romance scam.  In a romance scam, culprits post fake profiles on various dating websites throughout the United States and the world.  The profiles are used to lure unsuspecting victims looking for romance or companionship.  After contacting the victim online, the culprit uses various forms of communication such as email, instant messaging, text messaging, smart phone applications and phone calls to build trust and form a relationship.  Once trust has been gained, the culprit will convince the victim to provide money for various reasons.  The victim then transfers funds or deposits money into bank accounts within the United States.  The bank account holder in the United States will then transfer the fraudulently obtained funds to the culprit facilitating the fraud, often keeping a portion of the funds for themselves.  In this scam, Boadu was one of the bank account holders in the United States.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anand Varadarajan.

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