US court jails Nigerian man 72 months over s#xu@l extortion scheme that led to teenager’s death

A US court has sentenced Imoleayo Samuel Aina, a 27-year-oldNigerian, to 72 months imprisonment over a s#xu@l extortion case that led tothe death of a teenager in the country. Joel Slomsky, the trial judge at the US eastern district ofPennsylvania, on October 28, sentenced Aina to “72 months in prison, five yearsof supervised release, and $3,250 in restitution”. Aina was arraigned on charges bordering on “cyberstalking,interstate threat to injure reputation, receiving proceeds of extortion, moneylaundering conspiracy, and wire fraud”. In May, Aina pleaded guilty to the charges. The case centred on Jack Sullivan, a student at KutztownUniversity, who committed suicide after being targeted in an online s#xu@lextortion scheme. THE CASE On July 31, 2024, Aina and his accomplice—Samuel OlasunkanmiAbiodun—were taken into custody by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)after a Nigerian court ordered their extradition. In August 2024, Aina, Abiodun and Afeez Olatunji Adewale,another Nigerian, were charged in court over wire fraud and s#xu#l extortion. In December 2024, Abiodun pleaded guilty to money launderingconspiracy and wire fraud. He was sentenced on June 10 to five years in prison. Adewale remains in Nigeria pending extradition to the UnitedStates. David Metcalf, a US attorney who reacted to Aina’ssentencing, said the Nigerian was the “driving force” behind the s#xtortionscheme. “The department of justice won’t just stand by when innocentvictims in the US are harmed by criminal scammers overseas,” Metcalf said. “As this case shows, we can — and we will — find, prosecute,and hold accountable these insidious s#xtortionists who terrorise people formoney.”

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