Man pleads guilty in money laundering scheme linked to UP teenager’s death

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WBAY) – An Alabama man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a sex racketeering scheme that led to the death of a Marquette, Michigan teenager.

Dinsimore Guyton Robinson, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering after federal authorities said he laundered money for Nigerian sex extortionists.

The indictment alleges that the group used online payment systems to collect proceeds from sex extortion and forward them to Nigerian sex extortionists. According to the indictment, sex extortionists forced boys and young men to create nude images.

After the sextortionists obtained the images, they allegedly forced the victims to send funds to US money laundering companies through online payment systems such as Apple Pay, Cash App and Zelle. The money launderers kept about 20 percent of the money, converted the rest into bitcoins and sent the bitcoins back to Nigeria.

In November 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan charged three Nigerian nationals with sexual assault resulting in death Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old high school student from Marquette, Michiganand victimized more than 100 others.

Two of the three defendants in the case were extradited to the United States in August 2023 and pleaded guilty in April 2024 and were later sentenced.

Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24, according to a press release from the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.