A Nigerian man has been extradited to the United States to face prosecution for allegedly sexually exploiting and extorting a minor, resulting in the victim’s death.
Hassan Lawal (24) from Osun State was flown to the US on Saturday after an agreement was reportedly reached with the federal government that he would not be sentenced to death if found guilty.
Lawal appeared in a federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, with shackles on his wrists and ankles, US media reported.
He entered a not guilty plea to charges including child exploitation resulting in death and the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
The investigation which led to Lawal’s extradition was launched after Gavin Guffey, a 17-year-old took his own life after he was allegedly victimised by Lawal.
The accused allegedly posed as a young woman on social media and coerced the teen into sending compromising photos.
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He then extorted and sent harassing messages to the victim threatening to leak the photos and ruin his reputation unless he sent him money. Lawal was said to have later done the same thing to members of the victim’s family.
The accused faces the possibility of life in prison. The charge of child exploitation resulting in death carries a mandatory 30-year sentence.
He will continue to be held without bail. His next court hearing is next Monday.
Last year, the parents of a British teenager who took his own life after becoming a victim of sexual extortion made a direct appeal to cyber-criminals in Nigeria to stop terrorising the vulnerable.
Their son, Murray Dowey, from Dunblane, was only 16 when he died last year. He was believed to have been tricked by criminals into sending intimate pictures of himself and then blackmailed.
In September 2024, two brothers from Nigeria who targeted a 17-year-old in a sexual extortion scam were sentenced to 17 years and six months in jail in the US. It was the first successful prosecution of Nigerians for sexual extortion in the US.
