A 27-year-old Nigerian national, Imoleayo Aina, has pleaded guilty in a United States court for his role in a sextortion scheme that authorities say led to the tragic death of a teenager.
The U.S. Department of Justice, in a statement issued on Thursday by U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, confirmed that Aina faces a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment. His sentencing is scheduled for August 11, 2025.
Aina was arrested in Nigeria alongside his alleged accomplice, Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on July 31, 2014, and extradited to the United States for trial. Both were arraigned in a U.S. District Court in August 2024, while a third co-defendant, Afeez Olatunji Adewale, remains in Nigeria awaiting extradition.
According to the DOJ statement, Aina pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including:
Cyberstalking
Interstate threats to injure reputation
Receiving proceeds of extortion
Money laundering conspiracy
Four counts of wire fraud
These charges are connected to the sexual extortion and subsequent death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Abiodun, Aina’s co-defendant, had earlier pleaded guilty in December 2024 to money laundering conspiracy and four counts of wire fraud. He is scheduled for sentencing on June 10, 2025, and faces a maximum of 100 years in prison.
Adewale, who was indicted alongside the others, faces similar charges but has yet to be extradited. U.S. authorities have acknowledged the cooperation of the Nigerian government in facilitating the extradition of the suspects.
This case is part of a broader investigation into a large-scale sextortion ring. On April 26, 2025, DAILY POST reported that the FBI had arrested 22 Nigerians linked to financially driven sextortion schemes blamed for over 20 teenage suicides in the United States since 2021.
The arrests were part of Operation Artemis, a global sting led by the FBI in partnership with law enforcement agencies from Canada, Australia, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.
The operation was launched following a surge in reports of teenage boys being coerced into sending explicit images online and later blackmailed with threats of exposure.
