Two sisters from Toronto with a substantial Instagram following have been detained in Lagos, Nigeria, reportedly to face allegations that they tried to extort and cyber-bully a Nigerian billionaire. According to the news site Politics Nigeria, sisters Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo are accused of trying to blackmail the billionaire by claiming they had evidence of businessman Femi Otedola cheating on his wife that they would post on a notorious sex-scandal website. Forbes magazine’s list of 2016 billionaires says Otedola made his money in the energy sector; it estimates his net worth at $1.8 billion. According to a court document dated Dec. 20 and posted to Nigeria Politics, the sisters stand accused of being “responsible” for the website NaijaGistLive and several other social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter used for “cyberbullying” around 274 people, “mostly based in various regions of Africa.” A Toronto home address has been entered in the document for the sisters.
– Someone alert Alanis Morissette because a Nigerian billionaire is apparently on the receiving end of an alleged internet scam. The Toronto Star reports the ironic situation is unfolding around two sisters from Toronto—Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo—recently arrested in Lagos, Nigeria. The sisters Matharoo were "fixtures in the nightlife scene" there, regularly getting into Instagram fights with the wives of rich Nigerian men, according to BuzzFeed. But Nigerian energy magnate Femi Otedola—reported worth: $1.8 billion—says the sisters claimed they had evidence of him cheating on his wife and threatened to expose him if he didn't pay them off. They appeared in court Dec. 23, the Daily Dot reports. Private investigators hired by Otedola say the Matheroos recorded conversations and themselves having sex with wealthy men, then threatened to put the evidence on a website they operated. They allegedly used the website and its associated social media accounts to cyberbully around 275 people "mostly based in various regions of Africa," including Otedola, his wife, Nana, and their daughter DJ Cuppy. The sisters are also accused of being escorts, and Nigerian authorities say they've admitted to having sex with 100 rich Nigerian men. The Canadian government confirms the Matheroos' arrest. (There's a reason those infamous Nigerian internet scams sound so ridiculous.)