Two Nigerian nationals have been extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face federal charges arising from alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting American minors, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The defendants are Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24. Both were arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 during a joint law-enforcement operation and were brought to the United States after spending roughly three years there. Their extradition was coordinated by U.S. and Nigerian authorities, including the FBI and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Adekunle appeared in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi. Prosecutors charge him with the sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats made with the intent to extort. The death-related charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years if he is convicted.
Olawale appeared in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina. His indictment includes charges related to the alleged sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, interstate threatening communications, distribution of child sexual abuse material, and conduct connected to the death of a minor victim.
According to Nigerian authorities, the alleged schemes involved obtaining or soliciting sexual images from teenage boys and then threatening to distribute the material unless the victims provided money through methods including gift cards, money-transfer services, or cryptocurrency. Investigators said at least two American minors linked to the separate investigations died by suicide after experiencing online sexual exploitation and extortion.
The allegations have not been proven in court. Adekunle and Olawale are presumed innocent unless and until they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The cases are being prosecuted separately in federal courts in Mississippi and North Carolina.
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