A United States federal court has sentenced a 27-year-old Nigerian, Imoleayo Samuel Aina, to 72 months in prison for his role in a sexual extortion scheme that resulted in the death of an American teenager.
Judge Joel Slomsky of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania handed down the sentence on October 28, ordering Aina to serve six years imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and pay $3,250 restitution.
Aina was convicted on multiple charges, including cyberstalking, interstate threats to injure reputation, receiving proceeds of extortion, money laundering conspiracy, and wire fraud. He pleaded guilty in May.
Court documents showed that the extortion ring targeted Jack Sullivan, a student of Kutztown University, who later died by suicide after being blackmailed with explicit content.
US authorities said Aina and his accomplices manipulated the victim into sending intimate images and then threatened to expose him unless he paid money.
Aina and another suspect, Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, were arrested in Nigeria on July 31, 2024, after a court approved their extradition to the US.
In August 2024, Aina, Abiodun and a third Nigerian, Afeez Olatunji Adewale, were charged with offences bordering on wire fraud and sexual extortion.
Abiodun pleaded guilty in December 2024 and was sentenced on June 10 to five years in prison. Adewale remains in Nigeria awaiting extradition.
Reacting to the judgment, US Attorney David Metcalf described Aina as the “driving force” of the criminal network.
“The Department of Justice won’t stand by when innocent victims in the US are harmed by criminal scammers overseas,” Metcalf said.
“We can — and we will — find, prosecute, and hold accountable these insidious sextortionists who terrorise people for money.”
The US authorities said they would continue to pursue cross-border online crime syndicates preying on vulnerable individuals.
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