Air Peace owner, Allen Onyema faces fresh charges in US over alleged money laundering

The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has landed in fresh soup in the United States for an alleged attempt to obstruct justice in the ongoing money laundering investigation against him.

In a superseding indictment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia accused Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, Air Peace's Chief of Administration and Finance of tendering false documents in a bid to thwart a federal investigation into their activities.

The Clerk of the Court, Kevin Weimer, in a statement on October 8, 2024, issued an arrest warrant for Eghagha over her alleged role in the scheme.

Both Onyema and Eghagha have been under the US authority's scrutiny since 2019 for alleged money laundering. The former is facing an accusation of laundering over $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts using fraudulent documents under the guise of purchasing aeroplanes.

Eghagha is also facing charges of aggravated identity theft in connection to the scheme.

In a statement issued last Friday, US Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, Ryan Buchanan, detailed the fresh charges against the duo.

According to Buchanan, the two defendants committed additional fraudulent acts aimed at disrupting the investigation.

"Onyema, using his airline company as a cover, allegedly defrauded the U.S. banking system and later, along with his co-defendant, committed further crimes in a failed attempt to derail the government's probe into his conduct.

"The diligence of our federal investigative partners exposed the defendants' alleged obstruction scheme, ensuring that they can now be held accountable for their aggravated conduct," he said.

The US Attorney's office disclosed that from May 2016, Onyema and Eghagha allegedly employed a series of export letters of credit to initiate a transfer of over $20 million into Atlanta-based accounts controlled by the former.

The funds were purportedly meant for the purchase of five Boeing 737 passenger planes for Air Peace.

The supporting documents for these transactions, which included purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals, were allegedly found to be fake.

Investigations uncovered that the places were to be acquired from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a Georgia-registered business owned by the Air Peace owner.

However, Springfield Aviation never owned the aircraft, and the company's manager had no ties to the aviation industry.