United States Attorney David Metcalf has announced that Afeez Olatunji Adewale, 26, has been extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face charges linked to an alleged sexual extortion scheme connected to the death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Adewale is charged by indictment with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
According to authorities, Adewale was arrested in Nigeria on 17 August 2023 as part of a broader operation conducted in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeting individuals allegedly involved in sexual extortion schemes aimed at minors in the United States.
He was extradited to the US on Friday, 13 February 2026, with assistance from the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the FBI Legal Attaché in Abuja.
The FBI took him into custody upon his arrival.
Officials said the support of Nigerian authorities was critical to the extradition process, 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.
If convicted, Adewale faces significant penalties under US federal law. Prosecutors noted that an indictment is merely an allegation and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
