Crime & Safety

Dominatrix ‘Temptress Nirvana’ $10K Extortion Scheme Exposed: FBI

The FBI said in a criminal complaint in Detroit federal court that an Atlanta dominatrix used red underwear and threats to extort $10,000.

DETROIT, MI — A social media dominatrix known as “Temptress Nirvana” extorted money from a Wayne County man, threatening to tell his wife and “the entire state of Michigan” about sexually explicit photos he had sent if he didn’t comply with her blackmail demands, the FBI said in a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court. The woman, Erica Freeman, 25, of Atlanta, was arrested in Georgia and is expected to be arraigned on extortion charges in Detroit in the coming days.

The 21-page criminal complaint and Freeman’s social media accounts offer a glimpse into the sadomasochistic rituals that demonstrate how Freeman exerted control over her victim and other men, an investigator with the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force wrote in the complaint. In one GIF on her Twitter account, she kicks her male partner in the groin. Another image shows her sitting on top of a man whose head was stuck in a toilet. “Trophy” pictures show a man chained to a concrete pillar.

The Wayne County man complied with Freeman’s demands in the case that dates back to September 2016, sending her payments totaling about $5,000 through her PayPal account, according to the complaint. When he stopped communicating with her in January, Freeman threatened to expose him unless he paid her $10,000, investigators said, and he sent $250 payments for several weeks.

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To reward his compliance, Freeman mailed the man a pair of her red underwear, which he put on his head for a selfie he sent back to her, the FBI said. He tried to end the online relationship again in April, provoking a $15,000 demand from Freeman, according to court documents.

“I’ll tell everyone you’ve ever met in your entire life,” she wrote in one message, the FBI said. “I’ll tell the entire state of Michigan. It’s on.”

Freeman upped the stakes, sending the an messages that included screengrabs of his employer’s website and his wife’s Facebook page, the FBI said.

“Keep ignoring me and I send everything,” she wrote in one message, according to the complaint.

In all, the FBI wrote in the complaint, the Wayne County paid Freeman about $10,000 to remain quiet. He paid the first $5,000 “of his own free will,” the remaining money was paid “only because Freeman began threatening to expose their relationship,” the FBI wrote in the complaint.

Photo via Shutterstock

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