Jordan DeMay (Photo courtesy of DeMay Family)
(WTAQ-WLUK) — An Alabama man was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of a sextortion scheme that caused the death of a U.P. teenager.
Dinsimore Guyton Robinson, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, pleaded guilty to laundering money for Nigerian sex extortionists. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 24.
An indictment against Robinson and four co-defendants says the group laundered money for Nigerian nationals who created social media accounts posing as young women and encouraged teenage boys and young men to send them nude or sexually explicit images. Once the victims produced those images, the men blackmailed their victims for money and threatened to send the images to others — including the victims’ families, friends and classmates.
Victims were instructed to send money using various cash applications to financial accounts controlled by U.S.-based money launderers. Officials say the group would keep about 20% of the money, convert the rest to bitcoin and then send the bitcoin back to Nigeria.
In September 2024, Nigerian brothers Samuel and Samson Ogoshi were each sentenced to17.5 years in federal prison for their roles in the sextortion scheme. A third Nigerian man was also indicted in the case.
Investigators say the five U.S. citizens charged with money laundering received more than $178,000 from sextortion victims. In total, more than 100 victims were targeted.
- Johnathan Demetrius Green, 32, Stone Mountain, Georgia
- Jarell Daivon Williams, 31, McDonough, Georgia
- Dinsimore Guyton Robinson, 30, Huntsville, Alabama
- Kendall Ormond London, Jr., 32, Lithonia, Georgia
- Brian Keith Coldmon, Jr., 30, Stone Mountain, Georgia
One of the victims in the sextortion scheme was Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old high school student from Marquette, Michigan.
Authorities say just hours before DeMay’s suicide on March 25, 2022, he was being sexually extorted through Instagram over pictures that he had taken of himself. He was pressured by one of the men to pay money in exchange for the pictures not being sent to his family and Instagram followers. Officials say DeMay sent $300, but the pictures were sent anyway.
The FBI provides the following tips on how people can protect themselves from sextortion schemes:
- Be selective about what you share online. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you.
- Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online. Block or ignore messages from strangers.
- Be aware that people can pretend to be anything or anyone online. Videos and photos are not proof that people are who they claim to be. Images can be altered or stolen. In some cases, predators have even taken over the social media accounts of their victims.
- Be suspicious if you meet someone on one game or app and that person asks you to start talking on a different platform.
- Be in the know. Any content you create online—whether it is a text message, photo, or video—can be made public. And nothing actually “disappears” online. Once you send something, you don’t have any control over where it goes next.
- Be willing to ask for help. If you are getting messages or requests online that don’t seem right, block the sender, report the behavior to the site administrator, or go to an adult. If you have been victimized online, tell someone. Being a victim of sextortion is not your fault. You can get through this challenge, even if it seems scary and overwhelming. There are people who want to help.
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