Following a conviction for financial crimes related to a $2.1 million bribe, a U.S. District Court has ordered the temporary forfeiture of a California property owned by Paulinus Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American who was the former general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
On charges of tax evasion, transactional money laundering, and obstruction of justice, Okoronkwo was found guilty in September.
The court was informed by the prosecution that he collected $2.1 million from Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of China’s state-owned Sinopec, when he was the general manager of NNPC’s upstream division.
Claiming to be consulting fees, the payment was made to his law firm’s trust account in Los Angeles in October 2015, but it was actually a bribe to obtain favorable drilling rights in Nigeria.
Executives at Addax fired staff who questioned the deal, deceived auditors during internal reviews, and fabricated business documents to show the payment as legal expenses, according to court documents cited by The Cable.
Later, Okoronkwo practiced law in Los Angeles, handling issues including immigration, family law, and personal injury. He utilized about $1 million of the bribe as a down payment for a Valencia, California, home. Additionally, prosecutors pointed out that he neglected to disclose the illegal money in his 2015 tax returns.
Judge John Walter authorized the US government’s plea on October 3 to forfeit the Valencia property, which is located at 25340 Twin Oaks Place, Valencia, California 91381.
The court ruling declared that the defendant’s right, title, and interest in the following described property (henceforth referred to as the “Forfeitable Property”) was forfeited to the United States for the reasons listed below.
The order also pointed to Okoronkwo’s violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 on transactional money laundering, which further demonstrated a direct connection between the property and his crimes.
The judge ordered the government to keep the net revenues from the asset’s sale and gave the US Attorney General permission to seize it.
Following that, the US government sent out a notice requesting that anyone with a legitimate interest in the property submit a claim within sixty days.
In court documents, the property was identified as “With Assessor’s Parcel Number 2826-143-004 (Consolidated Asset Identification System Number 24-FBI-001775), Tract Number 45433, Lot 12.”
Okoronkwo will be sentenced on December 1st for tax evasion, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.
