A United States District Court in California has found Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, a Nigerian-American lawyer and former general manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), guilty of accepting a $2.1 million bribe from Addax Petroleum, a Swiss subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned oil giant Sinopec. The bribe was intended to secure favorable drilling rights for the company in Nigeria.
Okoronkwo, 58, also known as “Pollie,” was convicted on three counts of money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice following a four-day trial held in late August. Prosecutors presented evidence that in October 2015, Addax Petroleum wired $2.1 million to a trust account held in the name of Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm under the pretense of consultancy fees. The court ruled this to be a sham covering up the illicit payment.
At the time of the transaction, Okoronkwo served as the general manager of NNPCL’s upstream division, placing him in a public office with a fiduciary duty to act in Nigeria’s best interest. The bribe aimed to influence the terms of Addax’s crude oil drilling contracts in Nigeria, which were valued in the billions.
Further evidence during the trial revealed attempts by Addax Petroleum to conceal the scheme, including firing executives who questioned the payment and falsifying records during audits. Okoronkwo himself used nearly $1 million of the illicit funds to make a down payment on a luxury home in Valencia, California, which he failed to declare on his 2015 federal tax returns. In 2022, he also misled federal investigators by falsely claiming the funds were client monies.
The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December 1, 2025, presided over by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter. Okoronkwo faces a maximum statutory prison sentence of up to 10 years for each count of money laundering, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion. He is currently out on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) dismissed Okoronkwo in 2024 following his indictment, with the corporation and various authorities condemning the corruption scandal. This case underscores ongoing challenges of corruption and bribery involving state officials and multinational oil companies in Nigeria’s vital petroleum sector.
This landmark conviction, led by the FBI and IRS alongside U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors, highlights the global scope of anti-corruption enforcement and the serious legal consequences for public officials engaged in illicit bribery schemes
