American lawyer sends ₦276m to Nigerian man she met on Facebook, court orders him to refund every naira

• Nicole Kierulff Sayers told the court that a Facebook conversation with Nwachi Chidozie Kingsley developed into a romantic relationship before he began asking her for money.

• The Oregon-based lawyer said she made more than 125 transactions totalling over $200,000 to help him with a purported government contract and other expenses.

• Kingsley was sentenced to seven years in prison, with the court ordering him to refund the full $205,238.

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has jailed a man, Nwachi Chidozie Kingsley, for seven years for obtaining $205,238, approximately ₦276m, from an American lawyer, Nicole Kierulff Sayers, after a romance that began on Facebook.

Justice U.P. Kekemeke delivered the judgment in Maitama on Thursday, October 29, 2026, in a case prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He sentenced Kingsley to seven years on each of two counts, to run concurrently at the Kuje Correctional Centre, without the option of a fine. He also ordered him to refund the full $205,238 to Sayers.

The two-count amended charge bordered on possessing a document containing false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence in connection with a purported contract with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Sayers, an Oregon-based lawyer, told the court that Kingsley messaged her on Facebook on her birthday and claimed they belonged to the same spiritual organisation. She said their conversations became romantic, which made her trust him.

She said he later claimed he needed money to facilitate a government contract and told her that men were threatening his life because he had not raised the required funds. She first sent him $15,000 after he promised to repay it within 45 days. In March 2022, she travelled to Abuja and spent about two weeks with him at his rented house in Sun City.

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Sayers told the court he kept asking for money for contract expenses, medical emergencies, surgeries and malaria treatment, and that she made more than 125 transactions totalling over $200,000 in about a year. She also said he claimed a $10,000 transfer to her had been intercepted by a bank because it was linked to government funds, and later asked for money for bail and bribes.

Kingsley was arrested in Abuja on February 15, 2023, and arraigned the following month. The EFCC originally alleged that he defrauded Sayers of $370,000. A prosecution witness told the court during the trial that the commission had recovered $13,204, a plot of land in Port Harcourt and two vehicles from him, and that the Ministry of Works and Housing said the contract award letter was not genuine.

The witness also said the defendant admitted to creating fraudulent LinkedIn profiles and sending the fake contract letter to Sayers and other foreign victims.

Kingsley had not publicly commented on the sentence at the time of filing, and it is not stated whether he plans to appeal.