Two Nigerian men described by FBI Director Kash Patel as “high-value targets” are now in the United States to face serious federal charges connected to alleged financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting minors.
Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26, and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, were extradited from Nigeria to the United States on August 27, 2026, following years of international law enforcement efforts. Both men had been arrested separately in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of a wider operation targeting individuals accused of using online sextortion schemes against young people in America.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the men are facing prosecution in separate federal cases in Mississippi and North Carolina.
Adekunle is accused in connection with the financially motivated sextortion of a Mississippi minor. Federal prosecutors say charges against him include sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, coercion and enticement, and interstate threats with intent to extort. He appeared in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, on August 28.
Olawale, meanwhile, was extradited to face charges related to alleged sextortion involving two victims in North Carolina. Prosecutors say his indictment includes offenses involving sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, distribution of child sexual abuse material and threatening communications. He appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Greensboro on August 28.
The extraditions involved cooperation between U.S. and Nigerian authorities, including the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, FBI personnel in Nigeria and the United States, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Justice and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
This FBI has brought back two high-value targets from Nigeria to the United States to face justice for alleged sextortion crimes targeting minors.
🔺 Adebola Festus Adekunle and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale were arrested in Nigeria in 2023 and are now on U.S. soil.
🔺 The charges… pic.twitter.com/UFy7JscEyd
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 28, 2026
The cases form part of the FBI’s broader campaign against financially motivated sextortion networks, particularly schemes in which offenders allegedly manipulate young victims online before demanding money under threats of exposing intimate material.
The return of Adekunle and Olawale to U.S. soil demonstrates the growing international effort to pursue alleged online predators beyond American borders.
Both men are facing allegations only. Under U.S. law, they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
