A U.S. federal jury has convicted Paulinus Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American lawyer and former general manager in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice linked to a $2.1 million bribery scheme.
Prosecutors told the Central District Court of California that while serving as general manager in NNPC’s upstream division, Okoronkwo abused his position by accepting a $2.1 million payment from Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of China’s state-owned Sinopec.
The money, wired to his Los Angeles law firm’s trust account in October 2015, was disguised as payment for consultancy services but was in fact a bribe to secure favourable oil drilling rights in Nigeria.
During a four-day trial last month, the U.S. attorney’s office presented evidence that Addax executives falsified records, dismissed employees who questioned the payment, and misled auditors to conceal the bribe.
They said Addax calculated it risked losing billions of dollars without favourable financial terms for its crude oil operations.
Okoronkwo, who practiced immigration, family, and personal injury law in Los Angeles’s Koreatown, channelled nearly $1 million of the bribe money into a down payment on a house in Valencia, California, in November 2017.
He also failed to declare the illicit payment on his 2015 federal tax return, prosecutors said.
The indictment revealed that the consultancy contract Addax signed with Okoronkwo’s firm, which carried a fake Lagos address, was designed purely as cover.
To further hide the transaction, the money was deposited into an IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account), making it appear as though it were legitimate client funds.
In addition, investigators testified that in June 2022 Okoronkwo lied to federal agents, claiming the $2.1 million was client money and denying that he had used any part of it to purchase property, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Judge John Walter, who presided over the case, has scheduled sentencing for December 1.
Okoronkwo faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count, another 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion.
Stay ahead with the latest updates!
Join The Podium Media on WhatsApp for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
Chat with Us on WhatsApp