The United States Government has charged Allen Onyema, Air Peace’s Chief Executive Officer, with obstruction of justice.
In a statement issued on Friday 11th of October 2024, the US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, said they were investigating him for “submitting false documents to the government in an effort to end an investigation of him that resulted in earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering”.
The attorney’s office said Onyema used his airline to commit fraud on the US banking systems and noted Allen Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace’s Chief of Administration and Finance, “used a series of export letters of credit to cause banks to transfer more than $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts controlled by Onyema” in May 2016.
Ryan K. Buchanan, a US attorney, said Onyema “allegedly committed additional crimes of fraud in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation of his conduct”.
Buchanan referred to what the government believe to be document forgery they said occurred in May 2019.
According to them, Onyema and Eghagha fabricated documents to prove to a court they did nothing wrong in the operations of the airline.
The attorney’s office said both men were indicted on November 19, 2019, on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud and three counts of credit application fraud.
According to the statement, “Between 2010 and 2018, Onyema travelled frequently to Atlanta, where he opened several personal and business bank accounts. More than $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into his Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources.
“Beginning in approximately May 2016, Onyema, together with Eghagha, allegedly used a series of export letters of credit to cause banks to transfer more than $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts controlled by Onyema.
The letters of credit were purportedly to fund the purchase of five separate Boeing 737 passenger planes by Air Peace and were supported by documents such as purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals. The documents purported to show that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a business registered in Georgia.
“However, the supporting documents were allegedly fake – Springfield Aviation Company LLC was owned by Onyema and managed on his behalf by a person with no connection to the aviation business, and Springfield Aviation never owned the aircraft. The company that allegedly drafted the appraisals did not exist.
Eghagha allegedly participated in this scheme as well, directing the Springfield Aviation manager to sign and send false documents to banks and even using the manager’s identity to further the fraud. After Onyema received the money in the United States, he allegedly laundered over $16 million of the proceeds of the fraud by transferring it to other accounts.
“In May 2019, upon discovering that he was under investigation in the Northern District of Georgia for bank fraud, Onyema and Eghagha allegedly directed the Springfield Aviation manager to sign a key business contract, but also specifically told her to not date the document.
In October 2019, Onyema allegedly caused his attorneys to present that same contract, now falsely dated as being signed on May 5, 2016 [prior to the bank fraud that began in 2016], to the government in an effort to stop the investigation and unfreeze his bank accounts.
“Allen Ifechukwu Athan Onyema, 61, of Lagos, Nigeria, and Ejiroghene Eghagha, 42, of Lagos, Nigeria, were indicted on November 19, 2019, on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud, and three counts of credit application fraud.
Additionally, Onyema was charged with 27 counts of money laundering, and Eghagha was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft. On October 8, 2024, they were both charged in a superseding indictment alleging an additional count of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The case is criminal action number 1:19-CR-464.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has landed in fresh soup in the United States for an alleged attempt to obstruct justice in the ongoing money laundering investigation against him.
In a superseding indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia accused Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace’s Chief of Administration and Finance of tendering false documents in a bid to thwart a federal investigation into their activities.
The Clerk of the Court, Kevin Weimer, in a statement on October 8, 2024, issued an arrest warrant for Eghagha over her alleged role in the scheme.
Both Onyema and Eghagha have been under the US authority’s scrutiny since 2019 for alleged money laundering. The former is facing an accusation of laundering over $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts using fraudulent documents under the guise of purchasing planes.
By Our Correspondent