US court orders forfeiture of California property linked to Ex-NNPC GM over $2.1m bribery scheme
A United States District Court has ordered the interim forfeiture of a California property linked to Paulinus Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American and former general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), alleged to have acquired it using proceeds from bribery.
In September, the court found Okoronkwo guilty of transactional money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors stated that while serving as NNPC’s upstream division general manager, Okoronkwo abused his office by receiving a $2.1 million payment from Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of China’s state-owned Sinopec.
The funds, transferred in October 2015 to his law firm’s trust account in Los Angeles, were reportedly disguised as payment for consultancy services but were actually a bribe meant to secure favourable drilling rights in Nigeria.
Evidence presented by prosecutors revealed that Addax executives falsified records to misrepresent the payment as legal fees, dismissed internal whistleblowers, and provided misleading information to auditors.
Okoronkwo, who practiced immigration, family, and personal injury law in Koreatown, allegedly used nearly $1 million from the bribe as a down payment for a home in Valencia, California, and failed to report the income on his 2015 tax return.
US District Judge John Walter has scheduled December 1 for Okoronkwo’s sentencing hearing.
THE FORFEITURE
According to court documents, the judge granted the US government’s application for the forfeiture of Okoronkwo’s property on October 3.
The property, located at 25340 Twin Oaks Place, Valencia, California 91381, was declared forfeited to the United States.
“For the reasons set out below, any right, title, and interest of the defendant in the following described property (hereinafter, the ‘Forfeitable Property’) is hereby forfeited to the United States,” the court order reads.
“The Court finds that the government has established the requisite nexus between the Forfeitable Property and the offenses described in Counts 1 through 3 the First Superseding Indictment, which charged defendant with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (transactional money laundering).
“The Forfeitable Property is more particularly described as: i. The net proceeds of the sale of the real property located at 25340 Twin Oaks Place, Valencia, California 91381, more particularly described as Tract Number 45433, Lot 12, with Assessor’s Parcel Number 2826-143-004 (Consolidated Asset Identification System Number 24-FBI-001775) (‘Forfeitable Property’).
“Upon the entry of this Order, and pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.2(b)(3) and 21 U.S.C. § 853, the United States Attorney General (or a designee) is authorized to seize the Forfeitable Property.”
The US government also published a notice inviting any party with a legal interest in the property to come forward and present their claims within 60 days.