Manny Ita –
United States authorities have indicted a lawyer, Okoronkwo, over an alleged $2.1 million bribery scheme connected to the negotiation of oil drilling rights involving Addax Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
According to the indictment, the payment was purportedly made for consultancy services relating to the negotiation and completion of a settlement agreement with the NNPC concerning Addax’s drilling rights in Nigeria. Prosecutors said Addax had calculated that it stood to lose billions of dollars if its favourable drilling rights were not secured.
“The engagement letter that Addax signed that month with Okoronkwo’s law office – with a fake address in Lagos, Nigeria – was a ruse intended to conceal the fact that its payment to Okoronkwo was a bribe in exchange for his influence in securing more favourable financial terms relating to its crude oil drilling in Nigeria,” the United States government said.
Authorities alleged that Addax concealed the illegal bribery scheme by falsely describing the $2.1 million payment as compensation for legal services, misleading an auditor about the transaction, and dismissing executives who questioned the legitimacy of the payment.
Prosecutors further stated that, in order to create the appearance that the funds were legitimate client money, Okoronkwo received the payment through his law firm’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA).
After receiving the funds between February 2016 and 2018, Okoronkwo allegedly routed portions of the money to a company identified as IPO Capital LLC. Court filings stated that the funds were later used for personal expenses, including family costs, the purchase of a vehicle, and acquisition of a residential property.
Specifically, prosecutors said that in November 2017, Okoronkwo used $983,200 from the allegedly illicit funds as down payments on a house in Valencia.
Okoronkwo was also accused of failing to report the $2.1 million payment on his 2015 federal income tax return. He was further alleged to have obstructed justice in June 2022 by falsely telling federal investigators that he did not use any of the funds to purchase a house and that the money represented client funds rather than income to his law office.
“In January 2026, the State Bar of California suspended Okoronkwo’s law license. The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance,” the Attorney General’s office stated.
The office added that Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander B. Schwab, Acting Chief of the Criminal Division, Nisha Chandran of the Major Frauds Section, and Alexander Su of the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section prosecuted the case.
