In Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 5, "Economics of Shame," Kelsey Sommers (Elizabeth Alderfer), a local New York City reporter, puts herself back out in the dating world after her previous engagement imploded. However, as she quickly falls for Tyler (Jessie Allen Hitner), she finds herself blindsided as he turns a switch and attempts to extort her for money, threatening to release compromising photos of her if she doesn’t pay up.
As Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and her squad race to find the man behind the sextortion plot, they quickly realize that all may not be what it seems when looking at the victims and suspects. Here’s what happened in Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 5.
A dream guy becomes a nightmare
Kelsey walks into a restaurant, where she’s a regular, and meets Tyler. He’s rather charming and has taken the liberty of ordering her favorite drink. The pair hit it off and she takes him to a hotel where things get hot and heavy.
Going into work the next day, she’s all smiles as she explains to her coworker that she had a great time with Tyler and is looking forward to getting to know him more. Their conversation is interrupted when Tyler sends a suggestive picture to her phone. Excited, she sends him a picture in return of her sitting at her desk. He wants something more provocative, so she goes to the bathroom and takes an explicit photo, eventually sending it to him.
Later, Kelsey barges into her mom’s house asking if she received a text from anyone. Kelsey grabs her mom’s phone and sees a message from Tyler. She freaks out and runs to the roof, calling Tyler and asking why he’s doing this to her. Kelsey then gets a notification and it pushes her to climb on the ledge. Her mom comes out and asks what Kelsey is doing, and Kelsey replies he has more of them and he’s threatening to send them to people she knows.
Kelsey isn’t the only victim
Olivia, Fin (Ice-T) and Bruno (Kevin Kane) arrive on the scene and catch up on what’s happened. Olivia goes to the roof and begs Kelsey not to jump, promising to help her. Kelsy relents and steps down.
At the hospital, Kelsey explains to Olivia and Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) in her own words what happened with Tyler and shares he’s demanding $50,000 in exchange for him not releasing compromising photos of her to her contacts. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse when Kesley receives another text from Tyler moments later of a video he secretly recorded of them having sex.
Back in the squad room, Olivia and her team realize they don’t have much to go on in this case as all the information Kelsey had on Tyler is made up and they have no way to track him down. Bruno mentions that officers in the Bronx have seen a rash of sextortion cases and he managed to find one 19-year-old victim named Ruby (Kylie McNeill).
Olivia goes to Ruby’s apartment where she learns from the young woman that she met a guy named Nick on a bereavement site after her parents died. He claimed that his girlfriend died of cancer, and he and Ruby started to build a connection. They moved to FaceTiming, and he eventually came to her place to watch a movie, and the duo also had sex. The next day he sent her provocative images he had of her and demanded $50,000 in exchange for him not sending them to people she knew. He figured she had the money as she shared she received quite a bit when her parents died.
Unfortunately, SVU can’t find any information about Nick or find a connection between him and Tyler. This pushes Olivia to reluctantly ask Kelsey to reach out to Tyler and claim she has the money. Following Kelsey as she makes the drop-off, Olivia is surprised that Tyler doesn’t show up to the scene, but a man named Neil (Travis Przybylski). He’s instantly arrested.
After he’s lawyered up, Neil tells Carisi (Peter Scanavino) that he may be a part of the sextortion ring, but that’s not by choice. Neil shares he’s actually a victim of sextortion. Six months ago a woman reached out to him on Instagram. They met in person and she later sent him nudes. In response, he sent her some of his own. It wasn’t long before Neil’s mom was sent one of the explicit photos he sent this mysterious woman, and the woman threatened to send pics to his other contacts. She demanded he pay $50,000 to prevent that from happening, but he didn’t have the money. So he was forced to work for the head of the operation, Constantine (Leo Georgallis), to pay off his "debt." Neil’s job is to search the internet and social media for potential victims.
Olivia has an idea and pushes Carisi to cut a deal with Neil. The latter agrees to get in contact with Constantine and tell him he’s found a new target, a venture capitalist from Mexico City who’s married but is looking for a good time in New York City.
Velasco goes undercover
Velasco (Octavio Pisano) shows up a nice restaurant and meets Audra (Shanti Fiennes) for dinner. She buys his story about being a venture capitalist and tries to lure him to a hotel. He claims to have an early morning the next day, but the two exchange phone numbers. Velasco hugs her good night and the two go their separate ways, with him climbing in an undercover van where Bruno and Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) are waiting. The three officers watch video footage of Audra walking up to a car and receiving an envelope full of cash. That’s enough for SVU to flock to the car, arresting Audra and the driver, who turns out to be Constantine.
Carisi and Bruno question Constantine in an interrogation room with his attorney, but he’s not forthcoming with any information. He denies paying Audra for prostitution, but rather just being nice and giving a woman money. Officers also don't find anything incriminating at Constantine's home after searching.
Velasco and Silva question Audra who isn’t forthcoming initially. However, she reluctantly starts answering their questions and reveals that Constantine was running this operation with his brother Basil (Mark DiConzo), who they never heard of until now. Audra gives them his address.
Kelsey and Ruby get justice
Basil isn’t home when the police arrive and is on his way out of the country according to his housekeeper. Fin has authorities check the local airports, and Basil is apprehended on his way to JFK. He’s arrested and brought to the station.
When Kelsey learns that Constantine and Basil are in custody, she’s relieved as Olivia ensures her the nightmare is over. Sadly, Kelsey then receives a message that the sex video has been sent to people she knows. Kelsey’s coworker calls and confirms that the entire news organization has received the footage. She’s devastated, but Olivia says she has an idea to help her not lose her job.
Constantine is still in an interrogation room when he spots his brother in cuffs and becomes agitated. However, Carisi and Bruno manage to convince Constantine that Basil was planning to leave Constantine high and dry, and had even hired Constantine's attorney to look out for Basil’s best interests. Constantine fires his lawyer and then spills the truth.
By the episode’s end, Olivia shares with Ruby that she’ll be getting the money back that was extorted from her so she and her sister can attend college. Additionally, Kelsey does a news story about the sextortion scheme and says she went undercover to help expose it. An idea Olivia had a part in coming up with.
New episodes of Law and Order: SVU air on Thursdays on NBC and become available the next day on Peacock.
