US govt accuse Airpeace CEO, Onyema of obstructing justice in fresh money laundering charge
In a new revelation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, Allen Onyema has been slammed with fresh charges on money laundering through his company.
In 2019, Onyema was accused of moving more than $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts in a scheme involving “false documents” based on the purchase of airplanes, while airline’s chief of administration and finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha was said to have committed aggravated identity theft in connection with the scheme.
The indictment emanating from US Attorney’s office, Northern District of Georgia indicated that Onyema, alongside Ejiroghene Eghagha allegedly submitted false documents to walk away from a federal investigation against them.
The duo under investigation since 2019 were indicted 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.
Ryan Buchanan of the US attorney’s office in Atlanta Georgia in a statement said, “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”.
While commending the efforts taken to discover the alleged fraudulent act, he noted that, “the diligence of our federal investigative partners revealed the defendants’ alleged obstruction scheme, making it possible for the defendants to be held accountable for their aggravated conduct of attempting to impede a federal investigation.
According to him, “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 statement also confirmed that the defendants are to be presumed innocent until a full scale investigation and court judgement declares them guilty.
