By Ado Oyeyemi
A 35-year-old Nigerian fraudster, Olamide Shanu, has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges arising from an international sextortion, romance fraud and money laundering scheme that allegedly defrauded about 150 victims of more than $2.5m.
Shanu, described as a Lagos-based internet fraudster, was extradited to the US in 2025 to face charges relating to wire fraud, romance scams and money laundering.
According to the US Department of Justice in a statement issued on Tuesday, Shanu and his co-conspirators targeted victims across the United States through coordinated online fraud schemes.
The DOJ said the group operated a sextortion scheme in which male victims were persuaded to send sexual images of themselves before being threatened with exposure to their friends and relatives unless they paid money.
The department said the conspirators also operated romance scams by creating fake identities on social media and developing deceptive emotional relationships with victims, including older men and women.
Court documents cited by the DOJ stated that Shanu and his associates sometimes posed as women online to establish contact with male victims and persuade them to send explicit photographs.
After obtaining the images, the conspirators allegedly threatened to distribute them to the victims’ friends and family members unless payments were made.
The scheme reportedly affected numerous victims in different parts of the US, including at least one person in Idaho, where the case is being prosecuted.
The indictment alleged that Shanu fraudulently obtained at least $2m from victims and laundered the proceeds through peer-to-peer payment platforms and several cryptocurrency wallets before transferring the funds to other members of the scheme in Nigeria.
The US Secret Service reportedly traced a $2.5m wire fraud, money laundering and sextortion operation to Shanu’s Binance account and subsequently took control of the account.
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Shanu pleaded guilty to the charges in the District of Idaho and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
His sentencing has been scheduled for December 15, 2026.
