Two Nigerians, Chinwendu Azuonwu [39] and Basil Amadi [29] have been arrested [and arraigned] on the charges of alleged impersonation of American Singer, Bruno Mars on instagram and duping a Sixty-three [63] year-old Taxas Lady of about $100,000 in a romance scam. If convicted the duo will face between 2 to 10 years in Prison. 

According to KPRC-TV, Azuonwu has been charged with third degree felony money laundering in state court.

From the court documents sighted by TheNigeriaLawyers, the accused, Azuonwu is said to be a thirty-nine [39] year old Nigerian national and permanent resident at houston, USA, whereas his co-conspirator, Basil Amadi is described as a twenty-nine [29] year old Nigerian male. 

The victim, a resident of North Richland Hills, Texas, is reported to have ventured into social media in her quest to find a companion, only to fall prey of the alleged deception of the accused. In her report to Investigators, the victim claims that after opening an account on Instagram, she was contacted by a person [on the same platform] claiming to be the American singer, Bruno Mars, and they got chatting, both on Instagram and Google Hangouts, and she reportedly ‘fell in love’ with the said ‘Bruno Mars’ [the accused].

Furthermore, the victim told Investigators that in one of their conversation, the accused [posing as the 11 time grammy winner, Bruno Mars] told her that he plans to end his tour so that he could be with her, and spend more time. To further support his intention, he manipulated various text messages and sent same to her showing the grammy winner performing on a tour.

In one of their numerous conversation, precisely in September of 2018, ‘Mars’ requested her financial assistance to cover touring expenses, to which the victim sent a cheque of about $10,000 to him, after drawing from the local branch of Wells Fargo Bank in her county and depositing same into an account with JP Morgan Chase. The cheque was made out to Basil Chidiadi Amadi, the co-conspirator, and someone described to her as a ‘friend of the band’.

Furthermore, the victim told Investigators that upon depositing the cheque with JP Morgan Chase, she return to her local Bank and made out yet another [cashier] cheque to ‘Chi Autos’, as was instructed by her new found lover, ‘Mars’. This second cheque would later be deposited into a separate account at JP Morgan Chase on the 14th of September, 2018.

Investigation revealed that both accounts at JP Morgan Chase were traceable to the duo accused, Azuonwu and Amadi. The Bank records at JP Morgan Chase were subpoenaed by Investigators, and after multiple Investigations including searching the names of the accused through the database of drivers license holders, whereafter their pictorial details were gotten, leading to arrest.

According to Harris County prosecutors, the accused have denied the charges proffer against them, noting that whilst the accounts were theirs, they remain surprised as to how the said money got into their accounts. Whilst Azuonwu denied knowledge of the $90,000 was deposited into his account, according to the criminal complaint. Amadi also told investigators that he did not know Azuonwu, and he cannot explain the source of the $10,000 payment that appeared in his bank records. Azuonwu’s bail was set at $30,000.

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