The United States has extradited two Nigerian nationals, Adebola Festus Adekunle and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, to face federal charges over alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes involving American minors and linked to teenage deaths.
Two Nigerian nationals have been extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face federal prosecution over separate alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting American minors, with the cases linked to the deaths of teenagers in Mississippi and North Carolina.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday, August 28, 2026, that Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, had been transferred to the United States after being arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of an FBI operation targeting alleged sextortion networks.
Adekunle and Olawale were extradited to the United States on Thursday, August 27, 2026, with the support of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Abuja and Nigerian authorities, including the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Adekunle appeared before a federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, while Olawale appeared in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina. Both men are presumed innocent unless and until the charges against them are proven beyond reasonable doubt in court.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Adekunle is accused in connection with the alleged financially motivated sextortion of a Mississippi minor whose death followed the alleged scheme.
He faces charges including sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort. If convicted of the most serious charges, he could face life imprisonment, with the child exploitation resulting in death charge carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.
Olawale is facing separate federal charges in North Carolina connected to the alleged financially motivated sextortion of two victims and the death of a teenager.
U.S. authorities said he was charged in an August 2023 indictment with offences relating to the alleged sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement of minors, distribution of child sexual abuse material and interstate threatening communications.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the two suspects as “high-value targets” returned to the United States through international law-enforcement cooperation.
He said the FBI and the Department of Justice had pursued the suspects for three years following their arrests in Nigeria.
Patel said sextortion remained a particularly dangerous crime targeting vulnerable people, especially children and teenagers, through online deception, intimidation and threats.
The cases form part of Operation Artemis, an FBI initiative targeting financially motivated sextortion networks allegedly operating from Nigeria.
Under the operation, the FBI deployed agents, analysts and forensic specialists to Nigeria and worked alongside Nigerian and international law-enforcement agencies to identify and apprehend suspects connected to alleged schemes targeting minors in the United States.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrests and extraditions reflected the U.S. government’s strengthened international cooperation against criminal networks allegedly involved in the sexual exploitation and extortion of children.
He said such networks had been linked by U.S. authorities to dozens of teenage deaths by suicide in the United States.
Financially motivated sextortion generally involves an offender allegedly deceiving a victim into sharing intimate images or material before demanding money and threatening to distribute the content.
According to the FBI, perpetrators may target young people through social-media platforms, messaging applications, online games and other digital communication channels.
The FBI has warned that victims of sextortion can experience severe fear, humiliation and emotional distress and has encouraged victims and families to report incidents promptly to law-enforcement authorities.
The successful extradition of Adekunle and Olawale highlights the growing cooperation between Nigerian and American law-enforcement agencies in pursuing alleged cyber-enabled crimes across international borders.
However, the charges against both men remain allegations, and their guilt can only be determined through the judicial process in the United States.
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