Saturday, October 31, 2026 -The United States Government is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a 46-year-old Nigerian woman, Emuobosan Emmanuella Hall, who failed to report to federal prison after being convicted of romance fraud.
The United States Attorney's Office announced this in a
statement on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
According to the statement, on October 23, 2026, a federal
grand jury indicted Hall, of Atlanta, Georgia, for failure to report to
the Bureau of Prisons to serve a sentence, announced United States Attorney
David I. Courcelle.
“Hall, citizen of Nigeria and a U.S. permanent resident, had
been sentenced to eight years in prison by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche
Milazzo for her role in a romance scam. Hall is currently at large, and a
warrant has been issued for her arrest,” the statement read.
According to a criminal complaint issued in this matter,
Hall was indicted in April 2024 by a federal grand jury in New Orleans
for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit
money laundering.
She was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, and granted bond. Hall subsequently pleaded guilty.
In January 2026, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo
sentenced Hall to 96 months in prison.
Judge Milazzo permitted Hall to
remain on bond and ordered her to report to her designated Bureau of Prisons
institution to serve her sentence by March 25, 2026.
However, Hall did not report as ordered. According to GPS
data from her monitoring device, Hall last known location
was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 24, 2026,
where the device ceased operating.
Hall had provided her probation officer with her flight
information to Minnesota, where she was designated to serve her sentence.
According to airline records, Hall did
not board that flight.
Previously, Hall pled guilty to conspiring to defraud mostly
older women in a romance scam.
Her codefendant, Kenneth G. Akpieyi, of
Marietta, Georgia, was convicted after a four-day jury trial in July 2025 and
sentenced by Judge Milazzo to 25 years in prison.
According to evidence presented at trial and court
documents, members of this conspiracy falsely represented themselves
to be generals, philanthropists, or entrepreneurs who lived outside the United
States.
Conspirators would meet victims on Facebook, Instagram, and
similar social media platforms, gain the trust of the victims, and ask the
victims to move their conversations to WhatsApp or another encrypted platform.
Thereafter, the perpetrators would foster a romantic
relationship with their victims and ask the victims to send money for
fraudulent reasons, such as to help with charitable work or to assist sick
family members.
According to court documents, Akpieyi and Hall organized a
company, Le Beau Monde LLC, which they used in furtherance of the romance scam.
Hall would deposit victim funds into accounts held in the
name of her company and then transfer those funds to accounts at other
financial institutions, including foreign banks.
Hall admitted to responsibility for $851,207.00 in
losses to victims of this scheme, while Akpieyi was found to be
responsible for victim losses exceeding $3.5 million.
Akpieyi was remanded into custody after trial, and he is
currently serving his sentence in the Bureau of Prisons.
United States Attorney Courcelle stated, “Hall was convicted
for defrauding our vulnerable, elderly citizens out of their retirement funds.
Her flight from the law demonstrates her utter disregard of our judicial
system. We will continue to pursue Hall and any person who may be facilitating
her failure to appear to serve her federal prison sentence.”
If convicted, Hall faces
a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years of imprisonment to be served
consecutively to her prior sentence.
She may be fined up to $250,000, and she may receive a term
of supervised release of up to three years.
She must also pay a $100 mandatory assessment fee. The
matter has been allotted to U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown under
Criminal Action No. 26-255 “G”.
“Anyone with information on EMUOBOSAN EMMANUELLA
HALL’s location should call 1-800-CALL-FBI or reach out online at https://tips.fbi.gov.
The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward leading to her arrest,” the statement read.
U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the FBI New
Orleans Field Office in investigating this matter.
0 Comments