A United States federal court has convicted Paulinus Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American and former general manager at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), of receiving a $2.1 million bribe from Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of China’s Sinopec.
Okoronkwo was found guilty of transactional money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice after prosecutors established that he abused his position as head of NNPC’s upstream division to secure favourable drilling rights for Addax.
Court documents revealed that in October 2015, Addax wired $2.1 million into the trust account of Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm, disguising the payment as consultancy fees. Prosecutors said the funds were, in fact, a bribe aimed at safeguarding Addax’s oil exploration interests in Nigeria.
During the four-day trial, evidence showed that Addax executives falsified records, misled auditors, and fired staff who questioned the legitimacy of the transaction.
Investigators also found that Okoronkwo used nearly $1 million of the bribe money as a down payment for a house in Valencia, California, while omitting the income from his 2015 federal tax return. He later lied to federal agents in 2022, claiming the funds were client payments and not personal income.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the fake consultancy agreement used a non-existent Lagos address to conceal the bribery.
Okoronkwo’s sentencing has been fixed for December 1 before U.S. District Judge John Walter. He faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison for each money laundering count, another 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion.
