Two Nigerian men, Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, have been extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face prosecution in separate cases involving the alleged financially motivated sextortion of minors.
The United States Department of Justice announced the extraditions last Friday, saying the alleged crimes were linked to the deaths of teenage victims in Mississippi and North Carolina.
US Attorney General, Todd Blanche, said the two men were arrested in Nigeria as part of a wider operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, to apprehend individuals targeting minors in the United States through sexual extortion.
“The Department of Justice and this Administration have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to protecting America’s children from exploitation and sexual abuse,” Blanche said.
He added that the US had strengthened international law enforcement partnerships to dismantle foreign criminal networks involved in financially motivated sextortion and prosecute perpetrators of child sexual exploitation linked to the deaths of American teenagers by suicide.
FBI Director, Kash Patel, said the extradition of the two men represented another success in the agency’s efforts to bring high-value suspects back to the United States to face justice.
“Two Nigerian subjects arrested in Nigeria in 2023, Adebola Festus Adekunle and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, have now been returned to the United States to face justice after allegedly participating in financially motivated sextortion of minors—one resulting in the death of a child,” Patel said.
According to him, 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, he said, faces charges relating to the sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, distribution of child sexual abuse material and other offences.
“They’ve been overseas for three years, but this FBI and our DOJ partners went and got them,” Patel said, describing sextortion as a “heinous crime” that often targets children and other vulnerable individuals.
The US Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, Scott Leary, said the investigation into Adekunle began after the death of a Mississippi child and involved the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Starkville Police Department and the FBI.
“The evidence led agents to Nigeria. Undeterred, the FBI worked with DOJ’s Office of International Affairs for years, and eventually the defendant was extradited from Nigeria to face justice in the United States,” Leary said.
He expressed appreciation to Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, as well as other Nigerian authorities, for their cooperation in the extradition process.
Similarly, US Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, Dan Bishop, said the extradition of Olawale demonstrated that US authorities would continue to pursue those accused of sextortion regardless of where they were located.
“Three years after the indictment, and almost five years since the conduct occurred, the defendant will finally appear in a U.S. court to face the charges against him,” Bishop said.
He described financially motivated sextortion as a crime capable of causing profound emotional and psychological harm to victims and their families.
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Charlotte Field Office, Reid Davis, said the extradition demonstrated the agency’s determination to pursue individuals accused of exploiting vulnerable people, regardless of international borders.
Meanwhile, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jackson Field Office, Robert A. Eikhoff, said the extradition of Adekunle sent a clear message that international borders would not shield suspects from accountability.
Adekunle, a Lagos resident, was arrested in Nigeria on August 14, 2023, as part of the FBI operation targeting alleged sexual extortionists operating against minors in the United States.
He was extradited to the US on August 27 and subsequently appeared in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, for an initial appearance.
Adekunle faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and mandatory minimum prison terms on at least two counts. The charge of child exploitation resulting in death carries a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to the US Justice Department.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Jackson Field Office, the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section and International Operations Division, and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant US Attorney Parker S. King is prosecuting the case.
Olawale, who was also arrested in Nigeria on August 9, 2023, was extradited to the United States to face charges relating to the alleged sextortion of one minor and the alleged sextortion and death of another minor victim.
He was indicted in August 2023 on charges including sexual exploitation of minors resulting in death, enticement of minors, interstate threatening communications and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Olawale appeared in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina, before US Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld.
He also faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and mandatory minimum prison terms on at least two charges, with the child exploitation resulting in death charge carrying a minimum sentence of 30 years.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Charlotte Greensboro Resident Agency and the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, with Assistant US Attorney Ann Nee prosecuting.
The US Justice Department said both cases stemmed from Operation Artemis, an FBI initiative targeting financially motivated sextortion rings operating from Nigeria.
As part of the operation, the FBI deployed agents, analysts and forensic experts to Nigeria in collaboration with domestic and international law enforcement partners to investigate perpetrators of sextortion schemes allegedly linked to dozens of American teenage deaths by suicide.
The department said the operation had evolved into a broader national effort to dismantle foreign criminal networks involved in sextortion and other predatory schemes.
Adekunle and Olawale were extradited on August 27 with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja and FBI agents from the Jackson and Greensboro Resident Agencies.
The US authorities also acknowledged the cooperation of Nigerian security agencies, particularly 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.
The Justice Department stressed that the charges contained in the indictments are allegations and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
It urged anyone who knows someone being victimised through sextortion to report the matter to local law enforcement or the FBI.
