Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, dey face new charges from the United States government over alleged obstruction of justice and money laundering. According to a superseding indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, the airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance, submit fake documents to disrupt a federal investigation into their activities.
The new charges include one count of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Onyema and Eghagha allegedly use false documents to try and stop the investigation that started in 2019 over $20 million bank fraud and money laundering allegations. They claim the money was for purchasing airplanes, but the documents, including purchase agreements and appraisals, were fake.
Onyema is accused of moving over $20 million from Nigeria to U.S. bank accounts using export letters of credit and fraudulent documents. He allegedly transferred these funds through his company, Springfield Aviation LLC, which he owns and which never actually owned the aircraft in question.
Eghagha is also facing charges of aggravated identity theft and has an arrest warrant issued against her by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The warrant orders her to be taken into custody and produced in court before the trial can start.
Since 2019, Onyema has been a fugitive in the United States, avoiding travel to the U.S. and other allied countries due to the active arrest warrant against him. His legal team has denied the allegations, calling the new charges a recycling of old accusations.
The U.S. Attorney, Ryan Buchanan, stated that the defendants’ actions were part of a larger scheme to defraud the U.S. banking system and later to obstruct the government’s investigation into their conduct.
