GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) Four Georgia men and one Alabama man have been indicted for receiving more than $178,000 from sextortion victims, including a northern Michigan teenager driven to suicide because of the international scheme, prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Western District of Michigan Attorney’s Office; the five men have been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, ultimately facilitating the Nigerian sextortion scheme that drove Jordan DeMay, 17 of Marquette, to take his own life. The scheme has also targeted more than 100 additional victims, according to prosecutors.
The five defendants are: Johnathan Green, Jarell Williams, Kendall London, Brian Coleman, all of Georgia. The fifth man, Dinismore Robinson, is of Alabama. They range in age from 30 to 32.
Prosecutors called the charges against the five men “separate but related” to the original sextortion case.
In November of 2022, the U.S. Attorney Office for the Western District of Michigan charged three men from Nigeria in the sextortion scheme. Two of the three defendants were extradited to the U.S. in August 2023 and pleaded guilty in August 2024.
Two of the defendants in the sextortion case—Samuel, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, of Lagos, Nigeria—admitted in their plea agreements that they pretended to be a young woman online, encouraging “sexually explicit” conduct and photos from their victims. According to prosecutors, the sextortionists used images to blackmail their victims for money, and threatened to send the images to victims’ families, friends or classmates.
The indictment alleges the five defendants controlled Ogoshi' and other sextortionists’ financial accounts. They allegedly kept a portion of the victims’ funds, approximately 20%, and converted the rest to bitcoin.
“The defendants would then send the bitcoin to an unindicted Nigerian co-conspirator, whom they referred to as “The Plug”,” the press release read.
“The Plug” kept some of the bitcoin funds and sent the rest to Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, and Ezekiel Robert. According to the indictment, the five U.S.-based defendants laundered at least $178,658 related to the sextortion case.
The indictment tells of a financial transaction of “Victim 1” DeMay’s parents gave the U.S. Attorney’s Office permission to share that “Victim 1” was their son, Jordan. According to the indictment; in March, 2022, DeMay sent $300 through a cash application to Jonathan Green. Green allegedly transferred some of the funds into another cash app, purchased bitcoin and sent it to The Plug. The Plug kept some of the money and forwarded the rest to the sextortionists, the indictment said.
The FBI arrested Green, Williams, London, Coleman, and Robinson on Thursday, August 1st. They appeared in federal court on the same day.
Money laundering, a federal crime, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“Every day Americans fall victim to financial scams, including sextortion, romance scams, and consumer fraud,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in the release. “Senior citizens, children, and teenagers are especially vulnerable. The result of these crimes can be devastating, as the death of Jordan DeMay makes painfully clear. Today’s charges send a loud and clear message that we will chase down everyone who enables these crimes, including the U.S.-based money launderers.”
The FBI is investigating the case.
Most Popular
Comments / 0