CEO of Nigeria's Air Peace charged in US with obstructing investigation into $20m fraud probe

Allen Onyema, the CEO and founder of Nigeria's Air Peace airline, has been charged with obstruction of justice in the US, adding to previous charges of bank fraud and money laundering. A press release from the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia says that Onyema, 61, was charged with "submitting false documents to the government in an effort to end an investigation of him" that led to those earlier charges, which were brought in 2019. Ejiroghene Eghagha, 42, Air Peace's chief of administration and finance, was also charged with obstruction, the press release says. The pair were indicted in 2019 over allegations that they had moved more than $20m from Nigeria through US bank accounts by using false documents based on the purchase of five Boeing 737 planes. The indictment, seen by Business Insider, says they submitted export letters of credit to fund the purchases, along with supporting purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals. But prosecutors argue that these documents were fake and that the company supposedly selling the planes, the Georgia-registered firm Springfield Aviation, was owned by Onyema and managed by someone with no connection to the aviation industry. "The aircraft that was referenced in each of the export letters of credit was never owned or sold by Springfield Aviation," the indictment says. Once the money was in the US, prosecutors say Onyema laundered over $16m by moving it to other accounts.<br/>