Shocking new details have been revealed into how a teenage boy was goaded into taking his own life by two brothers from Nigeria.
The pair were sentenced to 17½ years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men across the U.S. including 17-year-old Jordan DeMay from Michigan who died by suicide.
A federal judge sentenced Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and Samson Ogoshi, 21, after hearing how Jordan killed himself at his family’s home in Marquette, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The Ogoshis, both from Lagos, Nigeria, had previously been extradited from Nigeria to stand trial. The brothers each pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to sexually exploit teenage boys.
They were accused of running an international sextortion ring in which they posed as a woman, a scheme which resulted in Jordan’s March 2022 suicide.
Shocking new details have been revealed into how 17-year-old Jordan DeMay from Michigan was goaded into taking his own life by two brothers from Nigeria
Samuel Ogoshi (left), 22, and his younger brother Samson Ogoshi (right), 20, of Lagos, were sentenced to 17½ years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men across the U.S.
The siblings were accused of inducing Jordan to send a naked picture of himself and then extorting him.
Under the name Dani Robertts, posing as a woman, the brothers wrote to Jordan stating: ‘I have screenshot all ur followers and tags can send this nudes to everyone and also send your nudes to your Family and friends Until it goes viral … All you’ve to do is to cooperate with me and I won’t expose you.
‘Are you gonna cooperate with me,’ the message read. ‘Just pay me rn [Just pay me right now] And I won’t expose you.’
When Jordan asked ‘how much?’ he was told he needed to fork over $1,000.
After Jordan paid $300, Samuel Ogoshi continued to make further threats.
‘Goodbye’, Ogoshi wrote. ‘Enjoy your miserable life.’
It led Jordan to write a devastating message in response.
‘I’m kms rn [I’m kill myself right now] Bc of you [Because of you].’
‘Good,’ Ogoshi wrote back.
‘Do that fast. Or I’ll make you do it. I swear to God.’
‘I will make you regret you life,’ the scammer went on. ‘I will make u commit suicide. I promise you I swear.’
Jordan shot himself in the head shortly afterwards.
Jordan DeMay, 17, a high school senior from Marquette, Michigan, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March 2022, after the Nigerian men pretended to be a female online and coerced him to send explicit photos of himself
Jordan DeMay, a star basketball and football player, pictured with his mother Jennifer Buta
The callous messages between the Ogoshi brothers and their victims including Jordan May
The depraved brothers researched 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 approached their targets, managing to solicit the minor victims to produce and send sexually explicit images of themselves.
‘Once they received the images, they created a collage of pictures that included the sexually explicit image with other images of the victim and their school, family, and friends,’ prosecutors explained.
‘The Ogoshi brothers threatened to disclose the collages to the family, friends, and classmates of the victim unless the victim agreed to pay money using online cash applications.’
Federal prosecutors said their sextortion schemes targeted more than 100 victims, including Jordan.
‘The sentencing of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi sends a thundering message,’ U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement.
‘To criminals who commit these schemes: you are not immune from justice. We will track you down and hold you accountable, even if we have to go half-way around the world to do so.’
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 engages in sexual favors.
The offense has a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 30 years.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker, who also sentenced the Ogoshis to five years of supervision following their release, said he would decide what restitution the brothers must make once he receives additional information.
Before sentencing the brothers, Jonker said the case called for long sentences.
The brothers tricked DeMay intro sending nude photos, they demanded $1,000 or threatened to share them with friends and family. He was only able to pay $300 then took his own life
Jordan DeMay was dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His last message to the scammers was: ‘I’m killing myself right now. Because of you’
He said both of the defendants had shown a ‘callous disregard for life,’ while noting that the siblings had continued their sextortion scams even after learning that Jordan had killed himself.
‘The continuation of the overall scheme even after there was certain knowledge that one 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 as she told the court during Samuel Ogoshi’s sentencing that her son’s death had left her ‘shattered to the core, infuriated and trapped in grief.’
She said the last text her son sent her was ‘Mother I love you’ – a text she awoke to and thought was endearing until she learned that Jordan had killed himself in his bedroom.
‘What I thought was an endearing message from Jordan was his goodbye and his reassurance of his love for me,’ Buta said.
‘I would never have imagined that while I was asleep both of the 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 Jordan’s other relatives will ‘never again experience pure joy’ because every happy moment would be tainted by ‘a small cloud of sadness around it’ that comes from Jordan’s death.
The teen’s father, John DeMay, told the court he is haunted by the image of ‘my son laying on his bed dead with a gunshot wound to his head.’
‘Jordan was an amazing young man. He was resilient, he was smart, he was educated, he was an athlete. He was my only son. And you got to talk to him for the last time in his life. That’s horrifying to me,’ he said.
Jordan’s family described him as ‘the perfect mix of fun-loving and hard-working.’
‘Jordan’s smile could light up any room. Jordan’s 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 everyone’s friend and he did just that.’
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 a tremendous sense of guilt of the loss of life in this case.’
The Marquette Senior High school where DeMay was a student paid tribute by writing ‘We love you Jordan’ at the site
Samson Ogoshi´s attorney, Julia Kelly, said during his sentencing that her client is ‘very remorseful’ and that he was 18 when he began taking part in extortion and scam attempts.
She said such scams are common in Lagos, Nigeria, and he saw those as a quick way to make money.
Kelly wrote in a court filing that ‘hundreds of people just like him were involved in similar scamming.’
‘He was told who could get him a hacked account, how to make a fake profile, how to boost accounts and, because English is not his first language, was given a script of what to say,’ she wrote.
For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.