A United States District Court in California has convicted a former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, over a $2.1 million bribery and money laundering scheme tied to oil drilling rights in Nigeria.
Okoronkwo, 58, who holds dual Nigerian and American citizenship and also practises law in Los Angeles, was found guilty after a four-day trial in August.
The jury convicted him on three counts of unlawful monetary transactions, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors told the court that in October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of Chinese oil giant Sinopec, wired $2,105,263 into the trust account of Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm under the guise of consultancy fees.
Investigations revealed the payment was a bribe designed to secure favourable financial terms for Addax’s multibillion-dollar oil operations in Nigeria.
Court documents also showed that Addax executives misrepresented the deal, misled auditors, and dismissed staff who raised concerns about the transaction.
Further findings indicated that Okoronkwo used $983,200 of the illicit funds in November 2017 as a down payment for a luxury house in Valencia, California. He also failed to declare the money in his 2015 US tax filings.
When interrogated by federal agents in 2022, Okoronkwo reportedly obstructed justice by claiming the funds belonged to a client. The jury, however, rejected his defence and returned a guilty verdict on all charges.
US District Judge John F. Walter fixed December 1, 2025, for sentencing. Okoronkwo faces a maximum of 25 years in prison—10 years each for the unlawful transactions and obstruction charges, and 5 years for tax evasion.
The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation led the probe, with support from the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. Assistant US Attorneys Alexander Schwab, Nisha Chandran, and Alexander Su handled the prosecution.
Court filings further confirmed that Okoronkwo, currently out on a $50,000 bond, had his ties with NNPCL severed in 2024 following his indictment.
The conviction adds to the list of high-profile corruption scandals dogging Nigeria’s oil sector, with analysts warning that such cases continue to undermine global confidence in the country’s energy industry.
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