US Takes Two Nigerian Men Into Custody Over S£xtortion Cases Linked To Teen D£aths
US Takes Two Nigerian Men Into Custody Over Sextortion Cases Linked To Teen Deaths
According to the Justice Department, Adekunle, a Lagos resident, is facing prosecution in Mississippi, while Olawale is being prosecuted in North Carolina. Both men appeared before federal courts in their respective states following their extradition.
The United States has taken two Nigerian men into custody over separate federal sextortion cases involving American minors, including teenagers whose deaths were linked to the alleged schemes.
The US Department of Justice said Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, were transferred from Nigeria to the United States on August 27, three years after their arrests in Nigeria during an FBI-led investigation into sextortion networks.
According to the Justice Department, Adekunle, a Lagos resident, is facing prosecution in Mississippi, while Olawale is being prosecuted in North Carolina. Both men appeared before federal courts in their respective states following their extradition.
Adekunle faces charges including sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats made to extort victims, the department said.
Olawale is charged with sexual exploitation of minors resulting in death, enticement of minors, interstate threatening communications and distribution of child sexual abuse material, according to US prosecutors.
The two defendants could face life imprisonment if convicted. The charges involving sexual exploitation resulting in death carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison, the Justice Department said.
The cases stem from Operation Artemis, an FBI investigation targeting financially motivated sextortion operations allegedly run from Nigeria and directed at minors in the United States. The FBI said its wider investigations found links between such schemes and dozens of teenage deaths by suicide.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said American authorities were working with international law-enforcement partners to dismantle criminal networks involved in sextortion and child sexual exploitation.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the extradition showed that suspects operating outside the United States could still be pursued by American authorities.
“They’ve been overseas for three years, but this FBI and our DOJ partners went and got them,” Patel said.
The Justice Department said its Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja and FBI personnel from Jackson and Greensboro coordinated the transfer of the two suspects from Nigeria to the United States.
It also credited Nigerian authorities, including the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Justice Cooperation Department and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, with assisting the extradition process.
The Mississippi case was investigated by several US law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI Jackson Field Office and its Violent Crimes Against Children Section, alongside local authorities in Mississippi. The North Carolina investigation involved the FBI’s Greensboro Resident Agency and the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
Robert Eikhoff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office, said international borders would not prevent authorities from pursuing suspects facing criminal allegations in the United States.
The extraditions come amid increased international efforts to tackle financially motivated sextortion, in which perpetrators allegedly threaten victims with the release of intimate material or use other forms of coercion to demand money or additional sexual content.
The allegations against Adekunle and Olawale have not been proven in court. Both men are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
