*26-year-old Lagos man, 24-year-old Nigerian face life imprisonment in separate US cases
Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The United States has extradited two Nigerian nationals arrested three years ago in Nigeria to face federal prosecution over alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting American minors, including cases linked to the deaths of teenagers by suicide.
The U.S. Department of Justice said on August 28 that Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, of Lagos, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, were taken into U.S. custody on August 27 after being arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of Operation Artemis, an FBI-led crackdown on sextortion rings operating from Nigeria.
The two men are facing separate federal cases in Mississippi and North Carolina involving the alleged sexual exploitation and extortion of minors. Prosecutors said the conduct in both cases included victims whose deaths were linked to the alleged sextortion.
Adekunle appeared before a federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, while Olawale was arraigned in Greensboro, North Carolina, shortly after their extradition.
According to the Justice Department, 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 with intent to extort.
Olawale, meanwhile, faces charges relating to the sexual exploitation of minors resulting in death, enticement of minors, interstate threatening communications and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Both men face maximum penalties of life imprisonment, while the sexual exploitation resulting in death charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years if convicted.
The cases have thrust Nigeria’s role in the global fight against financially motivated sextortion into renewed international focus, with U.S. authorities describing the alleged criminal networks as foreign-based operations responsible for devastating consequences for American families.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the American government had strengthened international law-enforcement partnerships to dismantle criminal networks behind financially motivated sextortion and prosecute individuals involved in child sexual exploitation.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the extradition demonstrated that international borders would not prevent the agency from pursuing suspects accused of targeting vulnerable American children.
“They’ve been overseas for three years, but this FBI and our DOJ partners went and got them,” Patel said.
The U.S. authorities said Operation Artemis involved the deployment of FBI agents, analysts and forensic experts to Nigeria to identify and apprehend members of sextortion networks allegedly targeting minors in the United States.
The FBI said the wider campaign followed investigations connecting financially motivated sextortion schemes to dozens of American teen deaths by suicide.
The extradition operation also highlighted growing cooperation between American and Nigerian law-enforcement authorities.
The DOJ said the transfers were facilitated by its Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja and FBI personnel from Jackson and Greensboro, who travelled to Nigeria and took the suspects into U.S. custody.
It specifically 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 providing essential assistance.
The Mississippi case followed an investigation involving the FBI Jackson Field Office, the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section and International Operations Division, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, the Mississippi Attorney General and Starkville Police Department.
In North Carolina, the investigation was conducted by FBI Charlotte’s Greensboro Resident Agency and the Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
U.S. authorities said the latest extraditions were intended to send a broader warning to perpetrators operating across international borders that physical distance would not guarantee immunity from prosecution.
“Crossing state lines does not erase criminal charges, and international borders do not shield individuals from accountability,” said Robert Eikhoff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office.
The two cases also underline the devastating consequences of sextortion, a crime in which perpetrators use threats, manipulation or the release of intimate material to extort money or further sexual content from victims.
While U.S. authorities have described the allegations as serious and the consequences as deadly, all charges remain accusations, and Adekunle and Olawale are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.