admin
A Nigerian national and US permanent resident, Emuobosan Emanuella Hall, 45, is now the subject of a federal arrest warrant after failing to report to prison to begin serving an eight-year sentence tied to a romance fraud scheme, exposing her to an additional 10-year jail term.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Louisiana said that on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Phillips Currault signed a criminal complaint and issued the warrant following Hall’s failure to surrender as ordered.
United States Attorney David I. Courcelle announced that Hall, who had been sentenced in January 2026, is currently at large.
PUNCH Online on Thursday reports that this was detailed in a statement issued by Public Information Officer Shane M. Jones on April 14, 2026.
There, authorities confirmed that Hall did not report to the Bureau of Prisons by March 25, 2026, as directed, and has since “evaded custody.”
According to the criminal complaint, “Hall was initially charged in April 2024 by a federal grand jury in New Orleans with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“She was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, granted bond, and later pleaded guilty.
“In January 2026, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced her to 96 months in prison but permitted her to remain on bond with instructions to report to a designated Bureau of Prisons facility by March 25, 2026.”
However, Hall failed to comply.
“GPS data from her monitoring device placed her last known location at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 24, 2026, where the device stopped transmitting.
“Although she had provided her probation officer with flight details to Minnesota, airline records show she did not board the flight. “Phone records instead suggest she traveled to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
“Court filings show Hall pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud mostly older women through a romance scam. Her co-defendant, Kenneth G. Akpieyi of Marietta, Georgia, was convicted after a four-day jury trial in July 2025 and later sentenced by Judge Milazzo to 25 years in prison,” the warrant for her arrest disclosed.
Evidence presented in court detailed how the conspirators posed as generals, philanthropists, or entrepreneurs living outside the United States, contacting victims through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram before moving conversations to encrypted services like WhatsApp.
Victims were then persuaded to send money for fraudulent reasons, including charitable work or medical emergencies.
Prosecutors said Hall and Akpieyi operated a company, Le Beau Monde LLC, to facilitate the scheme, with Hall depositing victim funds into company accounts and transferring them to other institutions, including foreign banks.
She admitted responsibility for $851,207 in losses, while Akpieyi was held responsible for more than $3.5 million. Akpieyi remains in federal custody serving his sentence.
“Our office will vigorously enforce the law, particularly when a defendant fails to report to prison to serve her sentence,” Courcelle said.
“Her failure to report to prison reflects an utter lack of respect for the law. HALL was sentenced for her role in defrauding women, often of money that they had saved for their retirement. Our office will continue to prosecute fraud wherever it occurs, especially when criminals exploit vulnerable victims,” the statement added.
According to the release, if convicted of failure to report, Hall “faces up to 10 additional years in prison to be served consecutively to her existing sentence, along with a possible fine of up to $250,000, up to three years of supervised release, and a mandatory $100 special assessment.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office credited the FBI New Orleans Field Office for investigating the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew R. Payne, Senior Litigation Counsel, leading the prosecution
