2 Nigerian brothers convicted of sextortion that led to death of teenager

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) — Two brothers from Nigeria were sentenced Thursday to 17 1/2 years in federal prison after plead guilty to sexual extortion of teenage boys and young men in the US, including a 17-year-old from Michigan who committed suicide.

A federal judge sentenced Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and Samson Ogoshi, 21, after hearing emotional testimony from the parents and stepmother of Jordan DeMay, who was 17 when he committed suicide in his family’s Marquette, Michigan, home.

The Ogoshis, both from Lagos, Nigeria, were previously extradited from Nigeria to stand trial. The brothers both pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to sexually exploit teenage boys.

They were accused of running an international sextortion ring in which they posed as women, a scheme that resulted in DeMay’s suicide in March 2022. The siblings were accused of soliciting DeMay to send a nude photo of himself and then blackmailing him. Federal prosecutors said their sextortion scheme targeted more than 100 victims, including DeMay.

“Today’s sentencing of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi sends a thunderous message,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement. “To the criminals who carry out this plan: You are not immune from justice. We will hunt you down and hold you accountable, even if it takes us halfway around the world.”

Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading someone to post explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or provides sexual favors. The offense carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker, who also sentenced the Ogoshis to five years of post-release supervision, said he will decide how much restitution the brothers must pay once he receives more information.

Before sentencing the brothers, Jonker said the case called for lengthy sentences. He said both defendants had shown a “callous disregard for life,” while noting that the brothers had continued their sextortion racket even after learning that DeMay had committed suicide.

“The continuation of the overall plan even after there was certain knowledge that one person, the person in this case, had committed suicide, points to the need for a severe sentence,” the judge said during the sentencing hearing for Samson Ogoshi.

DeMay’s mother, Jennifer Buta, told the court during Samuel Ogoshi’s sentencing that her son’s death had left her “broken to the core, angry and trapped in grief.” She said the last text her son sent her was “Mother, I love you” — a text she woke up to and found moving until she learned that Jordan had committed suicide in his bedroom.

“What I found touching was Jordan’s farewell and his reassurance of his love for me,” Buta said. “I never imagined that while I was sleeping, both suspects were hiding behind their screens and torturing Jordan for hours while he was alone.”

DeMay’s stepmother, Jessica DeMay, said during her tearful testimony that she and Jordan’s other family members “will never experience pure joy again” because every happy moment would be tainted by “a little cloud of sadness around it” that comes from Jordan’s death.

The teen’s father, John DeMay, told the court he is haunted by the image of “my son lying dead in his bed with a gunshot wound to his head.”

“Jordan was an amazing young man. He was resilient, he was smart, he was educated, he was an athlete. He was my only son. And you got to talk to him for the last time in his life. I think that’s horrible,” he said.

Samuel Ogoshi’s attorney, Sean Tilton, said his client has cooperated with authorities and has written a letter of apology. He said Samuel Ogoshi is remorseful “and feels tremendous guilt for the loss of life in this case.”

Samson Ogoshi’s lawyer, Julia Kelly, said during his sentencing that her client was “very remorseful” and that he was 18 when he began his extortion and fraud schemes. She said such scams were common in Lagos, Nigeria, and that he saw them as a quick way to make money.

Kelly wrote in a court document that “hundreds of people just like him were involved in similar scams.”

“He was told who could provide him with a hacked account, how to create a fake profile, how to boost accounts and, because English is not his native language, he was given a script on what to say,” she wrote.