Shocking new details have emerged about how two brothers from Nigeria incited a teenager to commit suicide.
The couple were sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually extorting teenagers and young men across the United States, including 17-year-old Jordan DeMay of Michigan, who committed suicide.
A federal judge sentenced Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and Samson Ogoshi, 21, after hearing how Jordan killed himself at his family home in Marquette, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The Ogoshi brothers, both from Lagos, Nigeria, had previously been extradited from that country to face trial. In April, both brothers pleaded guilty to conspiring to sexually exploit teenage girls.
They were accused of running an international sextortion ring in which they posed as women, a scheme that resulted in Jordan’s suicide in March 2022.
Shocking new details have been revealed about how 17-year-old Jordan DeMay from Michigan was goaded into committing suicide by two brothers from Nigeria.
Samuel Ogoshi (left), 22, and his younger brother Samson Ogoshi (right), 20, of Lagos, were sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually extorting teenagers and young men across the United States.
The brothers were accused of inducing Jordan to send a nude photograph of himself and then extorting him.
Under the name Dani Robertts, posing as a woman, the brothers wrote to Jordan saying: ‘I have taken a screenshot of all your followers and tags. You can send these nudes to everyone and also send your nudes to your family and friends until it goes viral… All you have to do is cooperate with me and I will not expose you.
“Are you going to cooperate with me?” the message read. “Just pay me right now (just pay me right now) and I won’t expose you.”
When Jordan asked “how much?” he was told he would have to shell out $1,000.
After Jordan paid $300, Samuel Ogoshi continued to make more threats.
“Goodbye,” Ogoshi wrote. “Enjoy your miserable life.”
This prompted Jordan to write a devastating message in response.
‘I’m killing myself right now for you (for you).’
“Good,” Ogoshi replied.
Do it quickly or I’ll make you do it. I swear to God.
“I’ll make you regret your life,” the con man continued. “I’ll make you kill yourself. I promise, I swear.”
Shortly after, Jordan shot himself in the head.
Jordan DeMay, 17, a high school senior from Marquette, Michigan, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March 2022, after Nigerian men pretended to be a woman online and forced him to send explicit photos of himself.
Basketball and football star Jordan DeMay pictured with his mother Jennifer Buta
The insensitive messages between the Ogoshi brothers and their victims, including Jordan May
The depraved brothers investigated their victims to find out where they lived, went to school and worked, as well as the identities of their family and friends.
Once they had the information, the brothers would approach their targets, successfully asking underage victims to produce and send sexually explicit images of themselves.
“Once they received the images, they created a photo collage that included the sexually explicit image with other images of the victim and her school, family and friends,” prosecutors said.
‘The Ogoshi brothers threatened to reveal the collages to the victim’s family, friends and classmates unless she agreed to pay money through online cash apps.’
Federal prosecutors said his sextortion schemes targeted more than 100 victims, including Jordan.
“The sentencing of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi sends a strong message,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement.
“To the criminals who commit these crimes: you are not safe from justice. We will hunt you down and hold you accountable, even if we have to travel halfway around the world to do it.”
Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or performs sexual favors.
The crime carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker, who also sentenced the Ogoshis to five years of post-release supervision, said he will decide what restitution the brothers should make once he receives additional information.
Before sentencing the brothers, Jonker said the case called for long sentences.
The brothers tricked DeMay into sending nude photos, demanding $1,000 or threatening to share them with friends and family. He was only able to pay $300 and then killed himself.
Jordan DeMay died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His last message to the scammers was: “I’m killing myself right now. Because of you.”
He said both defendants had shown a “callous disregard for life,” while noting that the brothers had continued their sextortion scams even after learning that Jordan had committed suicide.
“The continuation of the overall plan even after there was certain knowledge that an individual, the individual in this case, took his own life, points to the need for a high sentence,” the judge said during Samson Ogoshi’s sentencing hearing.
Jordan’s mother, Jennifer Buta, gave emotional testimony, telling the court during Samuel Ogoshi’s sentencing that her son’s death had left her “broken to the core, enraged and trapped in grief”.
She said the last text her son sent her was “Mother, I love you,” a message she found when she woke up and found endearing until she learned Jordan had committed suicide in his bedroom.
“What I found to be a touching message from Jordan was his farewell and his reaffirmation of his love for me,” Buta said.
“I would never have imagined that while I was sleeping, both defendants hid behind their screens and tortured Jordan for hours while he was alone.”
Jordan DeMay’s stepmother, Jessica DeMay, said during her tearful testimony that she and other family members of Jordan “will never experience pure joy again” because every happy moment would be marred by “a little cloud of sadness around them” stemming from Jordan’s death.
The teenager’s father, John DeMay, told the court he is haunted by the image of “my son lying in his bed dead with a gunshot wound to the head.”
“Jordan was an amazing young man. He was resilient, intelligent, well-educated and an athlete. He was my only son. And I got to speak to him for the last time in his life. That horrifies me,” she said.
Jordan’s family described him as “the perfect mix of fun-loving and hard-working.”
“Jordan’s smile could light up any room. His charm and beautiful smile were contagious, drawing people to him wherever he went and leaving a lasting impression on everyone he met. He wanted to connect and be a friend to everyone and that’s what he did.”
Samuel Ogoshi’s attorney, Sean Tilton, said his client has cooperated with authorities and has written a letter of apology.
He said Samuel Ogoshi is remorseful “and feels tremendous guilt for the loss of life in this case.”
Marquette Senior High School, where DeMay attended, paid tribute to him by writing “We love you Jordan” on its website.
Samson Ogoshi’s lawyer Julia Kelly said during his sentencing that her client is “very remorseful” and that he was 18 when he began engaging in extortion and fraud attempts.
He said such scams are common in Lagos, Nigeria, and he saw them as a quick way to make money.
Kelly wrote in a court filing that “hundreds of people like him were involved in similar scams.”
“They told him who could get him a hacked account, how to create a fake profile, how to boost the accounts, and since English is not his first language, they gave him a script of what to say,” he wrote.
For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.