Nigerian brothers guilty in sex tortion ring linked to suicide

Two brothers from Nigeria pleaded guilty Wednesday to their roles in an international sex racketeering scheme linked to the 2022 suicide of a 17-year-old boy in Michigan.

Samuel and Samson Ogoshi face up to 30 years in prison for conspiring to sexually exploit teenage boys in the United States by pretending to be a young woman online, This was announced by American attorney Mark Totten.

According to the announcement and the brothers’ plea deal, one of their victims was Jordan DeMay, a high school student in Marquette Township, Michigan, who committed suicide in 2022 after being manipulated into sending them sexually explicit images of himself.

DeMay’s death led to a joint investigation by the FBI and local law enforcement, which ultimately led authorities to the Ogoshi brothers. The Associated Press reported this last year.

The brothers are alleged to have worked with a third man, Ezekiel Robert, who is fighting an extradition warrant in Nigeria, according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan.

The plea deal alleges that from February 2021 through January 2023, the brothers worked with Robert to purchase hacked Instagram accounts to contact teenage boys and young men.

The scheme involved one person chatting with a victim while another researched personal information about the victim online, including their address, school and the identities of their friends and family, according to the plea agreement.

Under the plea agreement, the victim would ultimately be manipulated into producing and sharing sexually explicit images or videos of herself. Once a victim sent the sexually explicit content, the men allegedly used the images to blackmail them into sending money.

Prosecutors said in the plea agreement that there were more than 100 victims and that at least 11 of them were minors.

On March 25, 2022, the Ogoshi brothers spoke to DeMay, under the guise of a young woman, to extort him, according to the plea agreement.

“I have a screenshot of all your followers and tags. You can send these nudes to anyone and also send your nudes to your family and friends until it goes viral… All you have to do is work with me and I will not expose you,” Samuel Ogoshi messaged DeMay, according to the trio’s complaint.

DeMay was only able to pay his blackmailers $300, prompting them to make more threats, the settlement said. DeMay told them he was going to kill himself, to which Robert allegedly replied, “Do that quickly” and “Or I’ll make you do it.”

DeMay’s mother, Jennifer Buta, said local news station WDIV-TV last year that her son was staying with his father the night of his death and that she received a text message from her son in the middle of the night that said, “Mother, I love you.”

The next morning, Buta contacted her son, but he did not respond. DeMay’s father later discovered that his son had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The brothers were extradited to the United States last August after federal agents traveled to Nigeria to investigate with local law enforcement, according to a statement released last year.

Buta addressed the brother’s conviction in a post on social media, saying she is “extremely grateful for the efforts of all agencies involved.”

“Today Jordan will not come back. It won’t ease the daily pain and loss of him not being here, but it will help others,” she wrote. “Jordan’s legacy has changed the trajectory of this heinous crime. I’m not sure what to call it today, but it’s a moment we can all breathe and be grateful for.”

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health care. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside the US you can visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.