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US jury finds Paulinus Okoronkwo guilty of bribery, money laundering, tax evasion.
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Payment disguised as legal fees to secure drilling rights in Nigeria.
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Faces up to 10 years in prison per count at December sentencing.
A United States court has convicted Mr. Paulinus Okoronkwo, a former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), of receiving a $2.1 million bribe from Addax Petroleum to influence oil drilling rights in Nigeria.
Okoronkwo, who later practised law in Los Angeles, was found guilty of transactional money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said the $2.1 million was wired to his law firm’s trust account in October 2015 under the guise of consultancy fees, but was in fact a bribe from Addax, a Swiss subsidiary of China’s Sinopec.
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According to evidence presented at trial, Addax executives falsified records, lied to auditors, and dismissed staff who raised concerns.
Okoronkwo used nearly $1 million of the illicit funds as down payment for a Valencia, California home, while failing to declare the income in his 2015 tax filings.
In a statement, the US attorney’s office, Central District of California, said: “The engagement letter signed with Okoronkwo’s law office using a fake Lagos address was a ruse to conceal the fact that the payment was a bribe in exchange for his influence in securing favourable terms for crude oil drilling in Nigeria.”
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Okoronkwo also lied to federal investigators in 2022, denying that he used the bribe for property purchase and falsely claiming the funds were client money.
US District Judge John Walter fixed December 1 for sentencing. Okoronkwo faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count, 10 years for obstruction of justice, and five years for tax evasion.
