Two Nigerian brothers, Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, have been sentenced to 17 years and six months in a US prison for a sextortion scheme that tragically led to the suicide of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay.
The brothers, from Lagos, Nigeria, tricked Jordan into sending explicit images by posing as a girl his age on Instagram.
After receiving the images, they blackmailed him for money, threatening to release the photos publicly if he didn’t comply. Less than six hours after their initial conversation, Jordan took his own life.
Jordan’s mother, Jenn Buta, wept in court as she held a picture of her son and read her victim impact statement, saying she was “shattered to her core.”
Jordan had been a popular student from Michigan, and his mother welcomed the end of the trial, although she noted that “there is no good outcome” for her family.
The Ogoshis had posed as a teenage girl to lure Jordan into sending the photos, then demanded money, warning they would share the images with his friends.
Desperate, Jordan sent them as much money as he could before warning them that he might take his life if they shared the photos.
In response, the brothers callously replied, “Good… do that fast – or I’ll make you do it.”
Jordan’s father, John DeMay, shared in court how discovering his son’s lifeless body had left him with nightmares, and the family had to move homes to escape the painful memory.
The Ogoshis pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to exploit teenage boys, including 38 other victims in the US, 13 of whom were minors.
In court, both brothers, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, expressed remorse. “I’m sorry to the family. We made a bad decision to make money, and I wish I could change that,” Samson Ogoshi said.
Their defense argued that drug addiction and the sextortion culture in Nigeria contributed to their actions.
The judge condemned the brothers for showing a “callous disregard for life,” noting that they continued to target other victims even after learning of Jordan’s death.
Their sentencing marks the first successful prosecution of Nigerians for sextortion in the US, a crime that is on the rise and frequently linked to Nigeria.
US authorities tracked the brothers to Lagos and successfully extradited them for trial, a significant legal precedent in the fight against sextortion.
Another Nigerian man, connected to Jordan’s death and other cases, is still fighting extradition.
Jordan’s mother praised law enforcement for tracking the sextortionists but expressed mixed feelings about the brothers’ imprisonment, acknowledging the pain felt by the criminals’ family as well.
“I miss my son more than I can describe, but the mother of those men is probably missing her two sons as well now,” Jenn Buta said, adding that she, too, is an “innocent bystander” in this crime.
Sextortion cases have become a growing problem, with Nigeria emerging as a hotspot for this type of cybercrime.
Recent arrests in Nigeria have been tied to suicides of young boys in the US, Australia, and Canada, as law enforcement agencies from multiple countries cooperate to tackle the issue.
Nigerian cyber-security experts, like Professor Adedeji Oyenuga, hope the sentencing of the Ogoshi brothers will deter others from engaging in such crimes.
“It is already sending a bad signal,” he noted, adding that the case might not stop the crime completely but could reduce its prevalence.
The rise of cyber-fraud, often referred to as “Yahoo Boys,” has long been an issue in Nigeria, with sextortion becoming a modern variation of earlier internet scams.
Dr. Tombari Sibe of Digital Footprints Nigeria hopes that the sentencing will receive enough media attention to discourage young Nigerians from normalizing these crimes.
“They see cybercrime as a bloodless crime, with potentially lucrative financial rewards. This case needs to show them that sextortion can lead to loss of life and long prison sentences,” he said.
Source-BBC
