Mystery CEO victimized in catfishing scheme involving ‘sexually explicit’ photos

The mystery boss of a publicly traded company was caught up in a catfishing and extortion scheme involving raunchy photos and messages, the feds revealed on Thursday.

Prosecutors say that Sakoya Blackwood, a 34-year-old Bronx woman arrested on Wednesday, used “multiple online identities” to target wealthy and powerful men in an alleged scheme that began last March. Blackwood also used the aliases “Koya Blackwood Fews” and “Lila Cohen” in the online interaction.

Blackwood allegedly “threatened to release sexually explicit photographs of, and sexually explicit communications involving, a particular individual who is the Chief Executive Officer of a publicly traded company,” court documents said.

The feds unsealed the indictment in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday but withheld the name of the CEO targeted in the scheme, as well as the name of the public company the executive leads.

Blackwood purportedly “targeted multiple other victims” in the scheme. She is accused of using “threats of economic and reputational harm” to extract payments from the victims.

“No one should have to fear public humiliation and financial loss from the release of personal, private information,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “As alleged, Sakoya Blackwood created that very fear and sought to capitalize on it for her own personal gain.”

“I commend the victim for reporting this alleged criminal activity and encourage anyone else who believes they may have been a victim of this scheme to contact the FBI,” Williams added.

Blackwood faces multiple federal charges in the case, including one count of making interstate communications with intent to extort, one count of cyberstalking and one count of extortion. The charges could result in a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison.

“Most people hope for a personal human connection in life, and scam artists twist that desire into illicit schemes to steal more than hearts,” FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said. “We believe Blackwood used tactics we allege in this indictment to blackmail and extort money from other victims.”

A “catfish” is someone who develops a fake identity to deceive others online, often for nefarious purposes.

One famous “catfishing” case involved ex-University of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, who was the victim of an elaborate hoax that was recently chronicled in a Netflix documentary titled “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.”