A 26-year-old Nigerian national, Afeez Olatunji Adewale, has been extradited to the United States to face federal charges over his alleged role in a sexual extortion scheme that led to the death of a young man in Pennsylvania.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced in a statement on Wednesday that Adewale was extradited from Nigeria on February 13, 2026, following his arrest in August 2023 as part of a broader Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operation targeting individuals accused of sexually extorting minors in the United States.
According to U.S. authorities, Adewale is charged by indictment with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski in federal court in Philadelphia on Monday.
Prosecutors said Adewale’s arrest in Nigeria was carried out in collaboration with the FBI and Nigerian security authorities.
His extradition was facilitated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja, and other FBI personnel who took him into custody upon transfer.
American authorities acknowledged the role played by Nigerian officials in securing his extradition, including the Office of the 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 (EFCC).
Adewale is the third Nigerian charged in connection with the case. His co-defendants, Imoleayo Samuel Aina, also known as “Alice Dave,” 27, and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, 26, were extradited to the United States in August 2024.
Court records show that Abiodun pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud. In June 2025, United States District Judge Joel H. Slomsky sentenced him to five years in prison.
Aina later pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including cyberstalking, interstate threat to injure reputation, receiving proceeds of extortion, money laundering conspiracy, and wire fraud. He was sentenced by Judge Slomsky in October 2025 to six years in prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI Philadelphia Field Office’s Fort Washington Resident Agency in collaboration with the Abington Township Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Brown is prosecuting the case.
U.S. authorities emphasised that the charges against Adewale are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
