A Los Angeles lawyer was convicted by a federal jury of accepting a $2.1 million bribe while working as an officer for Nigeria’s state-owned oil company. The verdict was announced following a four-day trial in Los Angeles.
Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, 58, also known as “Pollie,” practiced law in immigration, family, and personal injury out of Koreatown. He was found guilty on three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Okoronkwo is a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria. He served as general manager for the upstream division at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), which manages Nigeria’s fossil fuel and natural gas reserves through partnerships with foreign companies. In this role, he owed a fiduciary duty to the Nigerian government.
In October 2015, Addax Petroleum—a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, China’s state-owned petroleum conglomerate—wired $2,105,263 to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) held by Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm. The payment was described as compensation for consulting work related to Addax’s settlement agreement with NNPC over drilling rights in Nigeria. However, prosecutors said the engagement letter between Addax and Okoronkwo’s firm used a fake address in Lagos and was designed to hide that the payment was actually a bribe intended to secure more favorable financial terms for Addax’s crude oil operations.
According to court documents, Addax misrepresented the nature of the payment as legal fees, provided false information to auditors about it, and dismissed executives who questioned its legitimacy. Okoronkwo deposited the funds into his law firm’s IOLTA account to make it appear as if they were client funds.
In November 2017, Okoronkwo used nearly $1 million from these funds as a down payment on a house in Valencia. He did not report the $2.1 million bribe on his 2015 federal income tax return. In June 2022, he lied to federal investigators by denying he had used any part of those funds for purchasing property or that they represented income rather than client money.
United States District Judge John F. Walter has set sentencing for December 1. Okoronkwo faces up to 10 years in prison for each illegal monetary transaction count, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion. He remains free on $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation led the investigation into this case with support from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander B. Schwab (Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division), Nisha Chandran (Major Frauds Section), and Alexander Su (Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section) are prosecuting.
