A former senior executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, has been handed an 87-month prison term by a United States federal court for his role in a multimillion-dollar bribery and money laundering scheme.
The 58-year-old, also known as “Pollie,” was sentenced in the Central District of California after being found guilty of accepting more than $2.1 million in illicit payments while serving as General Manager of NNPC’s upstream division. The sentencing was delivered by U.S. District Judge John Walter.
According to U.S. prosecutors, the funds were tied to negotiations that secured favourable drilling rights in Nigeria for Addax Petroleum, a Swiss-based subsidiary of Sinopec. Authorities said Addax risked losing billions of dollars if the advantageous terms were not preserved.
Court records show that in October 2015, more than $2.1 million was transferred to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) linked to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm. The payment was officially described as compensation for consultancy services related to a settlement agreement with NNPC. However, prosecutors argued that the arrangement was merely a cover to disguise a bribe meant to influence oil contract negotiations.
Investigators revealed that a fabricated Lagos address was used in documentation connected to the transaction, while company officials allegedly misrepresented the payment to auditors. Executives who questioned the legitimacy of the transfer were reportedly dismissed.
Following a four-day trial, a federal jury in August 2025 convicted Okoronkwo on three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice. Authorities said he failed to report the $2.1 million payment on his 2015 tax return and later misled investigators about how the funds were used.
Prosecutors detailed how the money was funneled through IPO Capital LLC between 2016 and 2018. The funds were ultimately used for personal expenditures, including the purchase of a home in Valencia, California. Nearly $1 million of the illicit proceeds was used as a down payment on the property in 2017.
In addition to the prison term, the court ordered Okoronkwo to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and to forfeit more than $1 million traced to the sale of the California property.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also noted that Okoronkwo, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United States who practiced immigration, family, and personal injury law in Los Angeles, owed a fiduciary duty to Nigeria as a public official during his tenure at NNPC.
In January 2026, the State Bar of California suspended his license to practice law. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation division, with support from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles handled the case.
