A United States District Court in California has fixed December 1, 2025, for the sentencing of Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, a former General Manager with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), who has been convicted of receiving a $2.1 million bribe from a Swiss oil company while in service.
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Okoronkwo, 58, was indicted in January 2024 by the US Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California on multiple counts, including three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, one count of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice.
According to court documents, Okoronkwo allegedly received $2,105,263 in October 2015 from Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, which was paid into his law firm’s account. The payment was disguised as a fee for consultancy services relating to Addax’s oil drilling rights in Nigeria, but US prosecutors described it as a bribe intended to secure more favourable financial terms from the NNPC.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said investigations showed that Addax mischaracterised the funds as legal services, misled auditors, and dismissed executives who raised questions about the transaction. To further conceal the scheme, the money was channelled through Okoronkwo’s law firm’s trust account.
Evidence presented in court revealed that Okoronkwo used $983,200 from the bribe as a down payment on a house in Valencia, California, in 2017. He was also found to have omitted the payment from his 2015 US federal income tax return and later lied to federal investigators in 2022, claiming the funds were client money rather than income.
Following a four-day trial, a jury found him guilty on all counts. Judge John F. Walter scheduled his sentencing for December 1, where he faces a statutory maximum of 25 years in federal prison: 10 years for each count of illegal monetary transaction, up to 10 years for obstruction of justice, and up to five years for tax evasion.
Okoronkwo, who once practised law in Koreatown, Los Angeles, is currently free on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
He was dismissed by the NNPCL in 2024 following his indictment, according to a statement by Bashir Ahmad, former media aide to late President Muhammadu Buhari.
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