Two sisters from Toronto, accused of blackmailing a Nigerian billionaire, appeared in a new video on Thursday apologizing to the man and others connected to a website they created.
Politics Nigeria earlier reported Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo operated a website called NaijaGistLive. It’s alleged the sisters cyber-bullied several high-ranking men, including a billionaire named Femi Otedola, and accused them of cheating and seeing prostitutes.
A video was released on YouTube Thursday and posted on Politics Nigeria’s website as well as other YouTube accounts. The two sisters can be seen standing side-by-side on camera and one of the sisters – believed to be Jyoti – can be heard reading the apology off a phone.
“We apologize to Femi Otedola and his family, especially his wife and children, and all the other petitioners,” she said, adding they created platforms called NaijaGistLive.com and .co where people were able to send in stories.
“Most stories were sent by close friends or associates of people being written about. The intention was not to hurt anyone or to be malicious. The intention was not to extort anyone.”
She said they haven’t received money from the platforms and said the money went to Babatunde Oyebede of Hustle Ink. Politics Nigeria posted in their Dec. 23 report a “Criminal Undertaking” court document which mentions a person by the same name and details several allegations involving the platforms.
“We are again very sorry and we assure all the petitioners that we will not have any affiliation whatsoever with this website or any other website that has to do with this. We promise not to say anything of the contrary to what we are saying now. We freely volunteered to make this video and not under duress because we are aware of the damages done to people.”
READ MORE: Toronto sisters in Nigeria released on bail, accused of trying to blackmail billionaire: reports
Politics Nigeria previously reported the sisters tried to blackmail Otedola by claiming they had evidence of him having an affair. It said they demanded money to stop the information from becoming public.
The report also said the sisters contacted the clients through a third party and demanded they pay “thousands of dollars or risk the release of the recordings/pictures/videos online through their website.”
Global News hasn’t been able to independently confirm the allegations.
The Matharoo sisters are scheduled to appear in a Nigerian court on Jan. 26.