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HomeCRIME & PUNISHMENTCORRUPTIONU.S. Seizes $53m Cash Over Corruption in Nigerian Oil Industry; Fingers Kola...

U.S. Seizes $53m Cash Over Corruption in Nigerian Oil Industry; Fingers Kola Aluko, Jide Omokore, Diezani Madueke

The Justice Department announced the final resolution of two civil cases seeking the forfeiture of various luxury assets that were the proceeds of foreign corruption offenses and were laundered in and through the United States.

With the conclusion of the cases, the department has recovered roughly $53.1 million in cash – constituting the net liquidated value of the defendant’s assets – plus a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million.

According to court documents, from 2011 to 2015, Nigerian businessmen Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore conspired with others to pay bribes to Nigeria’s former Minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who oversaw Nigeria’s state-owned oil company.

In return, Alison-Madueke used her influence to steer lucrative oil contracts to companies owned by Aluko and Omokore.

The proceeds of those illicitly awarded contracts totaling more than $100 million were then laundered in and through the United States and used to purchase various assets through shell companies, including luxury real estate in California and New York as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht.

The real estate was also used as collateral for loans to Aluko and shell companies he controlled. As part of the forfeiture process, those lien holders were paid.  

The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in the Washington Field Office and the IRS-CI investigated the cases, with assistance from the FBI Los Angeles Field Office.

These cases were brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. This initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, and often with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered assets to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.

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