United States authorities have indicted the founder and chairman of Air Peace Allen Onyema with obstruction of justice.
The airline’s chief of administration and finance Ejiroghene Eghagha was listed as co-defendant.
According to the US attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia, the duo submitted false documents to the government in an effort to end an investigation that resulted in earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering.
“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,” US attorney Ryan Buchanan said in a statement on Friday.
He added: “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.”
Special agent in charge of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Division Robert Murphy said the cases “represent the continued commitment of the Drug Enforcement Administration to identify and hold accountable those who engaged in fraud and money laundering.”
Assistant special agent in charge Lisa Fontanette said: “Allegedly, Onyema and his accomplices fraudulently used the U.S. banking system in an effort to hide the source of their ill-gotten money.
“Today’s superseding indictment is indicative of the dedication IRS-CI special agents and our law enforcement partners have, as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, to neutralize threats to the United States from criminal organizations.”
Buchanan said that according to the superseding indictment and other information presented in court, Onyema travelled frequently to Atlanta where he opened several personal and business bank accounts. More than $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into his Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources.
The attorney alleged that about May 2016, Onyema, together with Eghagha, used a series of export letters of credit to cause banks to transfer more than $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts controlled by Onyema. The letters of credit were purportedly to fund the purchase of five separate Boeing 737 passenger planes by Air Peace and were supported by documents such as purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals. The documents purported to show that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a business registered in Georgia.
He however said the supporting documents were allegedly fake, adding that Springfield Aviation Company LLC was owned by Onyema and managed on his behalf by a person with no connection to the aviation business, and Springfield Aviation never owned the aircraft.
He said the company that allegedly drafted the appraisals did not exist.
The attorney further said Eghagha directed the Springfield Aviation manager to sign and send false documents to banks. He said that after Onyema received the money in the United States, he allegedly laundered over $16 million of the proceeds of the fraud by transferring it to other accounts.
He claimed that in May 2019, upon discovering that they were under investigation in the Northern District of Georgia for bank fraud, Onyema and Eghagha allegedly directed the Springfield Aviation manager to sign a key business contract, but also specifically told her to not date the document.
He said that in October 2019, Onyema allegedly caused his attorneys to present that same contract, now falsely dated as being signed on May 5, 2016 (prior to the bank fraud that began in 2016), to the government in an effort to stop the investigation and unfreeze his bank accounts.
Onyema, 61, and Eghagha, 42, were indicted on November 19, 2019, on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud, and three counts of credit application fraud. Additionally, Onyema was charged with 27 counts of money laundering, and Eghagha was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft.
On October 8, 2024, they were both charged in a superseding indictment alleging an additional count of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
