Olayiwola Matthew
The United States government has asked a District Court, Northern District of Georgia to approve the forfeiture of approximately $14million in assets from Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, following a recent superseding indictment.
The indictment outlined serious allegations of fraud and money laundering against Onyema and his associate, Ejiroghene Eghagha, who is the Chief of Administration and Finance at Air Peace.
The indictment includes multiple counts against the defendants: Count One alleges conspiracy to commit bank fraud, while Counts Two through Four detailed instances of bank fraud.
Count Five pertains to conspiracy to commit credit application fraud, followed by Counts Six through Eight for credit application fraud. Additionally, Counts Nine through Thirty-Five address charges of money laundering.
If convicted of the offences outlined in Counts One through Five, the defendants will be required to forfeit any property derived from the alleged criminal activities, including significant sums held in bank accounts tied to their businesses.
Specifically, the U.S. government seeks forfeiture of: $4,017,852.51 from a JP Morgan Chase Bank account held by Springfield Aviation Inc. $4,393,842.05 from a Bank of Montreal account, also associated with Springfield Aviation Inc. $5,634,842.04 from another Bank of Montreal account linked to Blue Stream Aero Services, Inc.
The indictment further states that if any of the forfeitable properties cannot be located, have been transferred, or diminished in value, the U.S. intends to seek the forfeiture of other assets belonging to the defendants equivalent to the value of the forfeitable properties.
The legal actions are being pursued under the oversight of U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, along with Garrett L. Bradford and Christopher J. Huber.
It was reported on October 13, that Onyema and Eghagha were initially indicted in 2019 on charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. The alleged scheme involved using false documents to purchase aircraft and laundering over $16 million in proceeds.
However, Air Peace Limited while reacting to reports of fresh fraud charges filed by the U.S. authorities against its Chairman and CEO, Allen Onyema and Chief of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha had said its legal team was involved in matter and working to ensure justice was served.
Onyema is facing new charges in a superseding indictment for allegedly obstructing justice.
He’s accused of submitting false documents to the government in an attempt to shut down an investigation into earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering.
Eghagha is also implicated in the obstruction scheme and faces additional charges related to the initial bank fraud counts.
This was disclosed in a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia on Friday.
“After allegedly using his airline company as a cover to commit fraud on the United States’ banking system, Onyema, along with his co-defendant, allegedly committed additional crimes of fraud in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation of his conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “The diligence of our federal investigative partners revealed the defendants’ alleged obstruction scheme, making it possible for the defendants to be held accountable for their aggravated conduct of attempting to impede a federal investigation.”
US Attorney Buchanan revealed that Onyema has been linked to a complex financial scheme. According to the superseding indictment and court records: Onyema, founder of Air Peace (established in 2013), frequently visited Atlanta between 2010 and 2018.
Onyema was accused of opening multiple personal and business bank accounts in Atlanta. Over $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into these accounts from international sources.
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