A former General Manager of the upstream division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, has been sentenced to 87 months in a United States federal prison for accepting a $2.1 million bribe while serving as an official of the national oil company. Okoronkwo, now a lawyer based in the Los Angeles area, was sentenced following his involvement in securing favourable drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil firm, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The 58-year-old, also known as “Pollie” of Rancho Cucamonga, was sentenced by United States District Judge John Walter. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered him to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to forfeit $1,039,997 — the net proceeds from the sale of a property linked to the laundering of the bribe funds.
Following a four-day trial, a jury in August 2025 found him guilty on three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.According to prosecutors, Okoronkwo — a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria — previously headed the upstream division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), the state-owned entity responsible for managing Nigeria’s fossil fuel and natural gas resources in partnership with foreign oil companies. In that capacity, he owed a fiduciary duty to the Nigerian government and was considered a public official.
The Attorney’s Office disclosed that in October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, transferred $2,105,263 into an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) belonging to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm. The payment was purportedly for consultancy services relating to a negotiated settlement with the NNPC over drilling rights in Nigeria. Investigators alleged that Addax faced potential losses amounting to billions of dollars if it failed to secure favourable drilling terms.
Authorities stated that the engagement letter signed between Addax and Okoronkwo’s firm — which listed a fictitious Lagos address — was designed to disguise the payment as legitimate legal fees, while in reality it was intended to influence his role in securing improved financial terms for crude oil operations in Nigeria. To mask the bribe, Addax reportedly misrepresented the payment as compensation for legal services, provided false information to auditors, and dismissed executives who raised concerns about the transaction.
Prosecutors further explained that Okoronkwo received the funds through his firm’s IOLTA to create the impression they were legitimate client funds. Between February 2016 and 2018, he allegedly transferred the money to a company named IPO Capital LLC, from which he financed personal expenses, including the purchase of a vehicle and a home.Court documents revealed that in November 2017, he used $983,200 from the illicit proceeds as down payments on a property in Valencia.
He was also accused of failing to report the $2.1 million payment on his 2015 federal tax return. In June 2022, he obstructed justice by falsely telling federal investigators that he had not used any of the funds to buy a house and that the money represented client funds rather than income earned by his firm.In January 2026, the State Bar of California suspended his licence to practise law. The case was investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. 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 handled the prosecution.
Source: https://www.arise.tv/
