Two Nigerian men, Imoleayo Samuel Aina, 26, and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, 24, have been extradited to the United States to face charges of sexual extortion and the death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Aina is charged with cyberstalking, interstate threats to reputation, and accepting extortion proceeds. Both Aina and Abiodun are also charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
On Monday, United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that the suspects were extradited from Nigeria to the United States. Romero explained that the charges stem from allegations of sexual extortion leading to the death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
According to Romero, Aina and Abiodun were apprehended in Nigeria following a complaint and were detained by the FBI on July 31, 2024.
“They were extradited to the United States with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja, and the FBI,” stated the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“The support and assistance of Nigerian security authorities was essential to this effort, notably that of Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Justice Cooperation Department, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“Aina and Abiodun have now been brought to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for prosecution and appeared in federal magistrate court in Philadelphia before U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth T. Hey on Friday, August 2.”
According to Romero, if convicted of the charges, Aina stands up to life in jail, while Abiodun faces up to 40 years.
“The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Abington Township Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Brown.
“An indictment, information or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” Romero added.
Meanwhile, Nigerian national Uchenna Christian Nlemchi has been sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $524,000 in restitution for his role in a romance scam and business email compromise scheme.
Additionally, Nlemchi must forfeit $868,295 in a money judgment.
Nlemchi was extradited from Hungary to the United States in 2023 to face charges.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, in a statement released on Thursday.
According to court documents, the fraudulent scheme began in 2015. A co-conspirator, using the alias “Sean Bartlett,” deceived a widow in New Mexico into sending money, supposedly for business expenses.
Nlemchi facilitated the scam by opening bank accounts under his own name and a fictitious business named “Jay Auto & Machine Parts.”
