A United Kingdom-based Nigerian, Olamide Shanu, is at risk of a 20-year jail term following his extradition to the United States over his indictment in a $2 million fraud.
The US Department of Justice disclosed in a statement on its website on Thursday that 34-year-old Shanu was arraigned before a US Magistrate Court on Wednesday following his extradition.
The DoJ noted that the Lagos State indigene was arraigned on an eight-count charge bordering on “wire fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit interstate communications with intent to extort, and cyberstalking.”
Others are “conspiracy to commit extortion, money laundering conspiracy, extortion, interstate communications with intent to commit extortion, and cyberstalking.”
According to the prosecutor, the suspect, alongside other conspirators, posed as females on social media and persuaded their victims to send explicit images of themselves. Once they received the photos, they resorted to threatening the victims.
The statement read, “According to the indictment, Shanu and his conspirators posed as females on social media and persuaded their victims, typically males, to send sexual images of themselves.
“The indictment alleges that once the victims sent the explicit images, the conspirators threatened to send the explicit images to the victims’ friends and families unless the victim paid money.
“The indictment alleges that the conspirators engaged in this extortion of numerous victims across the United States, including a college student in Idaho.”
It continued that, aside from the sextortion scheme, the suspect, in connivance with other conspirators, allegedly laundered proceeds from the schemes through cryptocurrency wallets.
The statement noted that Shanu allegedly obtained not less than $2m from the schemes and now risks 20 years’ jail if found guilty.
“According to the indictment, Shanu fraudulently obtained at least $2,000,000 from the fraud schemes.
“If convicted of the charges, Shanu faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He also faces restitution for the losses incurred by the victims of the scheme.
“An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the statement read.
It was reported on August 6 that a France-based Nigerian, Chukwuemeka Victor Amachukwu, faced up to 47 years’ imprisonment following his extradition to the US for his alleged involvement in wire fraud, hacking, and identity theft that resulted in losses of $819,000 to victims
According to the US DoJ, in 2019, Amachukwu, along with other conspirators, allegedly hacked into the “US-based tax preparation businesses, including several businesses located in New York, Texas, and other states, by utilising spear-phishing emails to obtain access to these businesses’ electronic systems.”
