Two Nigerians extradited to US over schemes linked to teenagers’ deaths

Two Nigerians have been extradited to the United States to face federal prosecution over alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting American minors.

The suspects, Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, were arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 following an international operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

They were extradited on Thursday and appeared separately in federal courts in Mississippi and North Carolina on Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Adekunle and Olawale are presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors prove the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt in court.

The extraditions followed years of cooperation between U.S. investigators and Nigerian authorities after the suspects were arrested separately in August 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The department particularly acknowledged Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagnemi (SAN), the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

It described the support and assistance provided by Nigerian security authorities as “essential” to successfully bringing the suspects before American courts.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Abuja were also involved in coordinating the international transfer.

FBI Director, Kash Patel, on Friday, described the suspects as “two high-value targets” returned to American soil through international law-enforcement cooperation.

“Two Nigerian subjects arrested in Nigeria in 2023 – Adebola Festus Adekunle and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale – have now been returned to the United States,” Patel said.

He said they would face justice after allegedly participating in financially motivated sextortion of minors, with the cases involving devastating consequences for young victims.

“They’ve been overseas for three years but this FBI and our DOJ (Department of Justice) partners went and got them,” Patel said.

He described sextortion as a particularly dangerous crime because perpetrators frequently target vulnerable young people through deception, intimidation and threats.

“Sextortion is a heinous crime targeting innocent people, often young children,” the FBI Director said.

Financially motivated sextortion typically involves offenders deceiving victims online into providing intimate images before threatening to circulate them unless money is paid.

The FBI says perpetrators often impersonate young people online and approach victims through social-media platforms, messaging applications, online games and other digital communication services.

The FBI warned that the crime can escalate extremely rapidly and leave victims experiencing intense fear, humiliation and psychological distress.

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said both suspects were arrested in Nigeria during a wider operation targeting alleged sextortionists preying on minors in the United States.

“The defendants were arrested in Nigeria as part of a wider operation with the FBI to apprehend sexual extortionists targeting minors in the United States,” Blanche said.

He said Washington had strengthened international law-enforcement partnerships to dismantle foreign criminal networks allegedly involved in financially motivated sextortion.

The Attorney General said such networks had been linked to “dozens of American teen deaths by suicide,” underscoring the growing international concern surrounding the crime.

The cases form part of Operation Artemis, an FBI initiative targeting financially motivated sextortion networks operating from Nigeria.

Under the operation, U.S. authorities deployed agents, analysts and forensic specialists to Nigeria to work alongside international and domestic law-enforcement partners.