Alleged Fraud: US Confiscates $14 Million In Bank Accounts Linked To Air Peace CEO, Allen Onyema

The United States authorities have frozen about $14.2 million in bank accounts linked to companies registered by Allen Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace Limited.

Mr Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace’s head of finance and administration, were recently indicted for alleged money laundering and bank fraud in the United States.

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The accused have denied such claims and look forward to proving their innocence in court.

The charges were first made public by the United States Department of Justice on Friday night. Shortly after the announcement, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively obtained the full detail of Mr Onyema’s indictment, which was not made public by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The charges stated Mr. Onyema used several companies he set up in the US to launder money and commit bank frauds through issuance of counterfeit letters of credit.

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Some of the companies’ bank accounts in the U.S. and Canada had been frozen with their substantial balances as part of the investigation, court documents showed.

The documents showed that $4,017,852.51 was seized from JP Morgan Chase Bank account number ending in 5512 held in the name of Springfield Aviation Company, LLC.

Another $4,593,842.05 held in Bank of Montreal with account number ending 7523 in the name of Springfield Aviation Inc. was also seized.

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American government also traced and seized $5,634,842.04 held in Bank of Montreal with account number ending in 515 in the name of Bluestream Aero Services, Inc.

American law enforcement authorities indicated in the charge document that efforts had commenced to secure final forfeitures of the funds.

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Mr Onyema did not return PREMIUM TIMES’ calls and text messages seeking comments about the seizures.

In an earlier statement Saturday, Mr Onyema said he was innocent.

Scoop: PREMIUM TIMES