Go to jail: US court sentences Nigerian brothers to 17-plus years for sextorting over 100 people, including 11 minors
Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and his brother Samson Ogoshi, 21, from Lagos, Nigeria who were extradited to the US to be tried on charges of conspiring to sexually exploit multiple minors, have each been sentenced by a US court to 17 years and six months in prison and five years of supervised release.
The US Justice Department announced their sentencing on its Facebook pageyesterday following the death of a male high school student in the state of Michigan.
“These defendants sexually exploited and extorted more than 100 victims, including at least eleven minors, resulting in the tragic death of a 17-year-old high school student,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the same Facebook post.
“To criminals who commit these schemes: you are not immune from justice. We will track you down and hold you accountable, even if we have to go halfway around the world to do so,” US lawyer Mark Totten emphasised,
The Ogoshi brothers used hacked social media accounts to create fake profiles, extorting sexually explicit images from victims and threatening to reveal these images unless payment was made.
The Ogoshi brothers were charged in November 2022 alongside Ezekiel Robert, also a Nigerian national, in connection with the sextortion scheme that led to 17-year-old Jordan DeMay’s death.
The Ogoshi brothers were extradited to the US in August 2023 and pled guilty in April.
The third Nigerian Robert’s extradition is pending following an appeal in his home country.
On August 2, Totten announced a separate federal charge for five US-based defendants with money laundering related to the sextortion scheme.
The FBI, Marquette Sheriff’s Department, and Michigan State Police Cybercrimes Unit are investigating the case, with support from Nigerian authorities and international agencies.
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