Allen Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerian airline Air Peace, has been charged by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia with alleged obstruction of justice.
The charges come as part of a superseding indictment filed by US authorities, accusing Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace’s Chief of Administration and Finance, of submitting false documents in an attempt to end a federal investigation against them.
Onyema and Eghagha have been under investigation since 2019 for their alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme.
Onyema is accused of moving over $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts using “false documents” to facilitate the purchase of airplanes. Meanwhile, Eghagha faces charges of aggravated identity theft in connection with the same scheme.
In a statement released on Friday, Ryan Buchanan, of the US Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia, alleged that Onyema and his co-defendant committed additional fraudulent acts to derail the government’s investigation into their activities.
“After allegedly using his airline company as a cover to commit fraud on the United States’ banking system, Onyema, along with his co-defendant, allegedly committed additional crimes of fraud in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation of his conduct,” Buchanan said.
He further explained that the charges stem from alleged efforts by Onyema and Eghagha to obstruct justice during the investigation.
Details of the Scheme
The indictment claims that starting in May 2016, Onyema and Eghagha 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 funds were purportedly meant for the purchase of five Boeing 737 passenger planes for Air Peace, supported by documents including purchase agreements and appraisals.
However, US authorities allege that these documents were falsified, with the aircraft supposedly being purchased from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a company registered in Georgia. The indictment claims Springfield Aviation is owned by Onyema, managed by an individual with no ties to aviation, and that the company never actually owned the planes.
The statement from the US Attorney’s Office emphasized that the defendants are presumed innocent of the charges until proven guilty, with the burden of proof resting on the government to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
