The United States has charged Allen Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, with obstruction of justice as part of an ongoing investigation.
In a superseding indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia accused Onyema and Air Peace’s Chief of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, of submitting false documents to interfere with a federal investigation into their activities.
NewsNGR reports that Onyema and Eghagha have been under investigation since 2019 for alleged money laundering. Onyema is accused of funneling over $20 million from Nigeria through U.S. bank accounts using fraudulent documents, supposedly for the purchase of airplanes. Eghagha faces additional charges of aggravated identity theft in connection with the scheme.
In a statement issued on Friday, U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan detailed the new charges, alleging that Onyema and Eghagha attempted to obstruct justice by committing further fraudulent acts to disrupt the investigation.
“Onyema, using his airline as a front, allegedly defrauded the U.S. banking system. Along with his co-defendant, he committed additional crimes in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation,” Buchanan stated. He praised federal investigators for exposing the scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s office revealed that, starting in May 2016, Onyema and Eghagha used fraudulent export letters of credit to transfer over $20 million into Atlanta-based accounts controlled by Onyema. These funds were purportedly for the purchase of five Boeing 737 planes for Air Peace. However, the supporting documents—including purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals—were allegedly fake.
Further investigations revealed that the planes were supposed to be bought from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a Georgia-based company owned by Onyema. However, Springfield Aviation never actually owned the planes, and it was managed by someone with no aviation industry connections.