Fake billionaire gets prison for $1.9M romance scam in Oregon

They met through the Millionaire Match Maker online dating website in December 2015.

In his profile, Oscar Peters claimed he was a lonely “BILLIONAIRE LOOKING FOR WIFE.”

He said he was living in Denmark and soon connected with an Oregon woman and attempted to strike up a long-distance romance.

Peters eventually lured her into sending him almost $1.9 million, claiming he was in the midst of a contested dirty divorce, that his “evil” wife” had restricted access to his money and he needed her financial help to meet his business obligations, according to court records.

All along, Peters promised he’d repay the Oregon woman but never did.

On Wednesday, Peters, 65, was sentenced in federal court in Portland to three years and one month in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon also ordered Peters to pay $1.9 million in restitution to his victim.

“I think that Mr. Peters’ conduct was deplorable. I cannot begin to fathom the harm and hurt that he has caused this particular victim,” Simon said.

Simon accepted the negotiated sentence jointly recommended by the prosecutor and defense lawyer but pressed both to explain why he shouldn’t sentence Peters to the low end of the sentencing guidelines, which called for three years and five months in prison.

Peters’ defense lawyer Robert Hamilton said Peters suffered a quadruple bypass while in custody in Great Britain as he fought extradition and suffers from diabetes and epilepsy. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Bateman said Peters already has served more than the length of the prison term, having been in custody since April 2020.

“Frankly, I think it should be more,” Simon said, but indicated he’d adopt the recommended sentence.

The woman sent Peters the money in several international wire transfers from Jan. 8, 2016 through Dec. 31, 2017, according to his indictment.

Peters’ “atrocious lies” about his financial security “do not compare to the calculated way he preyed” on the Oregon woman, convincing her that he loved her and the two would get married, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith Bateman.

He repeatedly promised to come to Portland, “but something always got in the way – work, the weather, his health, or security concerns,” as he claimed he was traveling with Saudi royalty, Bateman wrote to the court in a sentencing memo.

“He hid behind his computer and his phone from across the world; and he learned very private details of her life, and he took advantage of that information and exploited that,” Bateman said at sentencing.

On April 9, 2020, Peters was arrested in Great Britain but fought his extradition to the United States. He was eventually extradited in late October 2023 and entered a guilty plea to the single wire fraud count on March 6, 2025.

The only reason Peters was stopped was because he was arrested in Great Britain for a similar crime, Bateman told the judge.

“It seemed that absolutely nothing was going to stop him from this crime, not the adult victim explaining the extreme financial hardship she was suffering because of this; not her pleas for him to actually show up at the airport, as promised; and not the clear heartbreak … that he inflicted,” she said.

— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X

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