A Nigerian man who was indicted in connection with the "sextortion" of a South Carolina teen who died by suicide has been extradited to the United States to face prosecution, the Justice Department said Monday.
Gavin Guffey, 17, died by suicide in 2022 after, prosecutors allege, Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal extorted him using "compromising photos," the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina announced.
A lawsuit filed in South Carolina in 2023 alleges Lawal posed as a young woman and coerced Guffey into sending him sexually explicit content in 2022. Lawal then threatened to leak the content if Guffey didn't send him money, it says.
Lawal is alleged to have sent harassing messages to Guffey and some of his relatives, threatening to leak the pictures and ruin their public reputation unless they sent him money, court documents say.
Guffey was the son of state Rep. Brandon Guffey. After his son's death, Brandon Guffey went on to sponsor a bill known as "Gavin's Law," which made sexual extortion a felony offense in the state and an aggravated felony "if the victim is a minor, vulnerable adult, or if the victim suffers bodily injury or death directly related to the crime," according to Gov. Henry McMaster's office. McMaster signed the bill into law in August 2023.
Brandon Guffey said he's grateful for the agencies that worked together to catch Lawal, and he hopes it sends the message "that if you attack one of the children in America, we will track you down." However, it has not eased the pain of losing his son.
"As a parent that loses a child, you’re expecting some magic pill to take the pain away — but even this does not," he said in an interview with NBC News. "It does help a little bit that we have somebody in custody that cannot attack any more children, but I wouldn’t say that it just eases everything."
The lawmaker said his son was scammed over Instagram, prompting him to file a lawsuit against Meta last year. Now, he's hoping that Lawal will get a life sentence in prison, and Meta can also be held accountable for what he says is their role in his son's death.
"I find it really disturbing that these are the world’s richest companies, and yet they can’t be held responsible," Rep. Guffey said.
Meta did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
A grand jury returned an indictment for Lawal in October 2023, according to the U.S. attorney's office. He was charged with child exploitation resulting in death, child pornography distribution, coercion and enticement of a minor, cyberstalking resulting in death and interstate threat with intent to extort, the indictment said.
On Friday, FBI Columbia field office agents took custody of Lawal in Lagos, Nigeria, and conducted the extradition with help from Nigerian law enforcement authorities. He was arraigned Monday in federal court in Columbia.
"We will not allow predators who target our children to hide behind a keyboard or across the ocean," said the U.S. attorney for South Carolina, Adair Ford Boroughs. "Today we honor Gavin’s life and continue our fight against sextortion by holding this defendant accountable."
If he is found guilty, Lawal could spend life in prison. He would also face "mandatory minimum prison sentences on multiple counts," including a mandatory 30-year sentence for the charge of child exploitation resulting in death, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Lawal might also be ordered to pay the Guffey family restitution for the losses in the scheme.
The investigation, arrest and extradition were a partnership between law enforcement in the United States and Nigeria, and the case is part of Project Safe Childhood, "a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse," the U.S. attorney's office said.
CORRECTION (Jan. 27, 2025, 7 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Adair Ford Boroughs’ position. She is the U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, based in Columbia, not the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
