A Michigan judge on Thursday sentenced Nigerian brothers Samuel Ogosi and Samson Ogosi to 17 1/2 years in prison for their respective roles in a sex blackmail scheme that victimized 100 people and led to the 2022 suicide of Michigan teenager Jordan DeMay.
“I think at the end of the day, this case is a testament to what we can do as a country and really take stock of what's really going on with young people online,” Jordan's father, John DeMay, told Fox News Digital. “This case is a testament to what we can do as a country and really take stock of what's going on with young people online.” [sextortion] “That's true. I think that's the most important part of this piece. That was the final piece of the puzzle… saying, 'Hey, this is a legitimate claim.'”
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Yonker handed down the sentence Thursday morning, marking the first time in the country's history that a Nigerian sex-blackmail con man has been extradited to the United States and served a prison sentence, the FBI confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“Today's sentences for Samuel and Samson Ogosi send a shocking message,” Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said in a statement Thursday. “To the criminals who perpetrate these schemes: You will not escape justice. We will pursue you and hold you accountable, even if it means traveling halfway across the world to do so. The days when you could commit these crimes, easily make money, destroy lives and escape justice are over.”
According to the FBI, sextortion is a crime prevalent on social media in which bad actors trick victims, often minors, into engaging in sexual acts or sending blackmail payments.
Totten urged parents, teens and “anyone who uses a cell phone” to “please be careful.”
“Do not assume that the person on the other end is really who they say they are,” Totten added. “Do not share compromising images and if you are a victim please seek help – help is available and police are standing by.”
Jordan Demay was 17 years old in March 2022. Samuel Ogosi, now 24, and Samson Ogosi, 21, both of Lagos, Nigeria, conspired to use hacked accounts to pose as a woman on Instagram to begin conversations with the teenager, eventually blackmailing him into sending them money and demanding more money, continuing the threats until Demay committed suicide in March 2022.
The same night the Ogosi's began communicating with Jordan through Instagram, Jordan sent explicit photos of himself to the account that he assumed were of a woman.
According to prosecutors, Samuel Ogosi threatened to expose Jordan and “spread the word” online if he did not immediately send him the money. Jordan complied and sent Ogosi the money, but the crimes only escalated as Ogosi demanded more money from the 17-year-old.
The exchange continued for hours through the night, until Jordan finally told Ogosi he was going to kill himself.
“Good,” he wrote. “Hurry up and do it or I'll make you do it. I swear to God.”
The FBI received more than 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion between October 2021 and March 2023, involving at least 12,600 victims.
They targeted 100 other victims, including at least 11 minors, in a similar scheme, according to the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department said the suspects, who pleaded guilty, purchased hacked social media accounts and used them to deceive victims by posing as young women with fake profiles – in other words, to trick them into believing the fake accounts were real.
The perpetrators then conducted extensive online research on their targeted victims, finding out their addresses, the schools they attended, their employers, and the identities of their family and friends in an attempt to find evidence against them.
Once the victim sent the nude images, the Ogosi brothers would create a collage of sexually explicit photos of the victim and threaten to share it with the victim's entire family, friends and school unless the victim paid money to stop them.
But experts familiar with the crime say sending cash doesn't stop the sextortion scam — it just encourages the scammer to ask for more money from the victim, creating a never-ending cycle of blackmail and desperation for the victim.
John DeMay noted that as part of negotiations between the US and Nigerian governments over the extradition of the Ogosi brothers, US authorities were forced to drop the death penalty. The brothers also received reduced charges as part of a plea deal.
“So the sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of 15 to 30 years, but there's already been a lot of concessions given,” DeMay explained. “So there's been a lot of concessions given already. So I think there's a little problem with the 17-year sentence, because there's already been five to 10 years reduced on the lesser offenses. There's already been reductions in sentences for other offenses to begin with.”
The defense portrayed the Ogosi brothers as victims, arguing that terrorists burned down their home in Nigeria when they were children. They also argued the brothers were using drugs while committing sexual blackmail crimes online, DeMay said.
A lawyer for the Ogosi couple could not immediately be reached for comment.
“The sentences of sex blackmailers Samuel Ogosi and Samson Ogosi will ensure that these international criminals will no longer victimize minors in the United States and around the world,” Special Agent in Charge Chavoria Gibson of the FBI's Detroit field office said in a statement.
“Spreading awareness about sextortion is a top priority for the FBI in Michigan. Our hearts and prayers are with Jordan DeMay's loved ones and those who have been victimized by these individuals' criminal conduct.”
In a press release earlier this year, the FBI said the average age of a sextortion victim is between 14 and 17 years old, but noted that any child can be a victim.
According to the FBI, financially motivated sextortion perpetrators are typically from African and Southeast Asian countries. The FBI also saw a 20% increase in sextortion cases involving minors between October 2022 and March 2023.
Sextortion can lead to suicide and self-harm. From October 2021 to March 2023, the majority of victims of online financial extortion were juveniles. These reports have been linked to at least 20 suicides, according to the FBI.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has launched “Take it Down,” a free service to help victims of sextortion delete explicit images of them or stop them from being shared online by bad actors. The tool is available at: Please visit https://takeitdown.ncmec.org.
If you live in New York State and have been sexually assaulted, you can receive free, confidential crisis counseling by calling 1-800-942-6906. If you live outside of New York State, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-800-656-4673.
