Four men in Côte d’Ivoire have been arrested in an international sextortion case connected to the suicide death of a San Jose teen in February 2022, officials with the Department of Justice announced Friday.
On April 29, Alfred Kassi was arrested by Ivorian law enforcement, and he allegedly still had the sextortion messages he sent to the 17-year-old victim on his phone, the DOJ said.
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WATCH HEREThe investigation also identified several accomplices. Oumarou Ouedraogo was arrested by Ivorian law enforcement on April 25, and Moussa Diaby and Oumar Cisse were arrested on undisclosed dates, the DOJ said.
Diaby and Cisse were part of Kassi’s alleged sextortion network and admitted to their own sextortion crimes, while Ouedraogo allegedly helped Kassi launder the money, the DOJ said.
A U.S.-based accomplice, Jonathan Kassi (no relation to Alfred Kassi), was convicted in connection with the case in 2023 in a California State Court and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
In February 2022, Ryan Last, a 17-year-old senior at Ann Sobrato High School who lived in San Jose, took his own life hours after being sextorted online by an individual pretending to be a 20-year-old woman, the DOJ said. He was mere weeks from graduating from high school.
The international ring targeted thousands of victims, including minors, throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy.
Côte d’Ivoire's government does not extradite its citizens, so the defendants will be prosecuted there under Ivorian cybercrime statutes, the DOJ said.
The FBI is investigating the case, with substantial assistance from the San Jose Police Department, the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, and Meta, which provided critical information that assisted with the identification of the offenders.
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SIGN UP If you, your child, or someone you know is being exploited via sextortion, contact your local FBI field office, call 800-225-5324, or report it online at the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
