Three years after the tragic death by suicide of a California 17-year-old, Ryan Last, four men from the Ivory Coast have been arrested as part of an international sextortion scheme. It was this sextortion scheme that targeted Last, eventually leading to him taking his own life.
Videos by Suggest
According to a press release issued by the Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice, four different men were identified and charged in connection with the sextortion scheme that, reportedly, targeted thousands of victims, including minors, across North America and Europe.
As per the FBI, sextortion is described as a crime many times committed against children. In it, the criminal pretends to be someone of their age who is interested in an intimate or sexual relationship.
Through manipulation, the criminal gets access to intimate messages, photos, or videos shared by the victims. At one point, the criminal would use the content against them. They would threaten violence or exposure should the victims fail to provide more explicit content or pay a specific amount of money. For the mind of a child, this can be extremely taxing and scarring, as was the case with Ryan Last.
Ryan Last Sextortion
Back in February 2022, one of the four Ivorian men sextorted Last after pretending to be a 20-year-old woman. During the sextortion scheme, the individual, identified as Alfred Kassi, allegedly ordered Last to pay $150 to prevent him from disseminating the images Last had shared with Kassi. Hours later, Last, a high school senior, took his own life.
The $150 was allegedly laundered by Oumarou Ouedraogo. The other two Ivorian men, Moussa Diaby and Oumar Cisse, were also allegedly part of the scheme.
On April 29, 2025, Kassi was arrested by Ivorian law enforcement. Authorities allegedly found troubling evidence in his phone related to Last’s death.
“At the time of his arrest, Kassi allegedly still had the sextortion messages he sent to the 17-year-old victim in February 2022 on his phone,” the U.S. DOJ release read.
Ouedraogo, Diaby, and Cisse were arrested on April 25. Additionally, a fourth individual, Jonathan Kassi, who resides in the United States, was convicted back in 2023. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Given that the Ivory Coast does not extradite its citizens, Ivorian authorities will prosecute Alfred Kassi, Ouedraogo, Diaby, and Cisse.