Extradited Nigerian Allegedly Pushed US Teen to Suicide

In March 2022, 17-year-old Jordan DeMay received a message over Instagram from someone threatening to make his nude photo go viral unless the teen coughed up $1,000. DeMay, a high school senior in Michigan, could afford only $300. "I'm kms rn [killing myself right now]. Bc [because] of you," DeMay responded. "Good," read the reply, per USA Today. "Do that fast. Or I'll make you do it." DeMay died within hours of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, per NBC News. Now, in a four-count indictment, the government alleges a Nigerian man is responsible. And in a rare move, that man has now been extradited to the US to face charges of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, for which he could receive a life sentence.

Prosecutors say Samuel Ogoshi, 22, of Lagos used a hacked account to pose as a young woman and elicit a sexually explicit photo of DeMay before threatening to release it publicly. But DeMay was far from the only victim of this alleged sexual extortion scheme, which involved research into victims' relationships, schools, workplaces, and behaviors. Prosecutors say Ogoshi conspired with his younger brother, 20-year-old Samson Ogoshi, and a third man, Ezekiel Ejehem Robert, in an attempt to sexually extort more than 100 people between February 2021 and May 2022. The FBI warned last year that thousands of teens had been targeted in such "sextortion" schemes, many of which originate overseas. The agency added it was aware of more than a dozen related suicides, per CNN.

The younger Ogoshi—charged alongside his brother with conspiracy to sexually exploit minors, conspiracy to distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to commit stalking through the internet—was also extradited Sunday. FBI agents had traveled to Nigeria for a "cooperative investigation" before a Nigerian judge ordered the brothers' extradition last month, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan. The Nigerian solicitor-general then signed the final surrender order on Aug. 3, per NBC. "I hope it sets an example that the people who are engaging in this type of activity online ... can be caught," DeMay's mother tells WDIV. Like the Ogoshis, Robert was indicted by a federal grand jury in Michigan in May. His extradition is pending. (More sextortion stories.)