The United States government has announced a reward of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of Emuobosan Emmanuella Hall, a 46-year-old Nigerian woman who has failed to report to federal prison after her conviction for romance fraud. The announcement was made by the United States Attorney's Office on October 28, 2026.

Hall, a citizen of Nigeria and a permanent resident of the U.S., was sentenced to eight years in prison by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo for her involvement in a romance scam that targeted vulnerable individuals, primarily older women. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2024 for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering. Following her arrest in Atlanta, Georgia, Hall pleaded guilty to the charges.

In January 2026, Hall was sentenced to 96 months in prison but was allowed to remain on bond until she was to report to the Bureau of Prisons by March 25, 2026. However, she did not comply with this order. According to GPS data from her monitoring device, Hall's last known location was at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 24, 2026, where the device stopped functioning. Although she provided her probation officer with flight information to Minnesota, records indicate that she did not board the flight.

Hall's criminal activities were part of a larger conspiracy that defrauded victims out of significant sums of money. Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Hall and her co-defendant, Kenneth G. Akpieyi, operated under the guise of various false identities, claiming to be generals, philanthropists, or entrepreneurs living abroad. They would initiate relationships with victims through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, eventually persuading them to move their conversations to encrypted messaging services. Victims were then manipulated into sending money for various fraudulent reasons, including supposed charitable causes or family emergencies.

Hall admitted to being responsible for losses totaling $851,207 to victims, while Akpieyi was found to have caused losses exceeding $3.5 million. Following a four-day jury trial in July 2025, Akpieyi was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is currently serving his sentence.

U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle expressed his commitment to pursuing Hall, stating, "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 captured, Hall faces a maximum of ten additional years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a potential term of supervised release of up to three years.

The FBI is actively seeking information regarding Hall's whereabouts and encourages anyone with tips to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit information online at https://tips.fbi.gov. The investigation has been supported by the FBI's New Orleans Field Office, which has played a crucial role in the case.