The US is seeking to to recover $144 million in assets from illicit proceeds of two Nigerians.
The Justice Department, in a lawsuit filed Friday in Houston, said two Nigerian businessmen made corrupt payments to a Nigerian official who oversaw the country’s state-owned oil company in exchange for contracts. They then laundered the money through the U.S., according to the filing.
The men, Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore, purchased real estate, while Aluko bought a luxury cruiser, the government alleges. The lawsuit seeks the forfeiture of the Galactica Star, an $80 million yacht, and a $50 million condo at Manhattan’s One57, according to the Justice Department.
One57 tower, New York
“Corrupt foreign officials and business executives should make no mistake: if illicit funds are within the reach of the United States, we will seek to forfeit them and to return them to the victims from whom they were stolen,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said in a statement.
The bribes were paid between 2011 and 2015 to Diezani Alison-Madueke, then Nigeria’s minister for petroleum resources, according to the complaint. The defendants are accused of spending millions to fund a lavish lifestyle for Alison-Madueke. They acquired real estate in London that was used by the minister and her family, and bought her more than $1 million of furniture and artwork from several stores in Houston, Texas, the complaint said.
In return, Alison-Madueke used her influence to direct contracts to two of their shell companies — Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Ltd. and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd. — through a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, according to the complaint. The companies failed to abide by the terms the contracts, yet were permitted to sell more than $1.5 billion worth of Nigerian crude oil, the U.S. alleges. And then the global luxury spending spree began.
At one point Alison-Madueke warned Aluko and Omokore, in a recorded conversation, that they were being too conspicuous in their spending and said it would arouse the attention of authorities.
“I spoke to you several times about your general behavior, acquisition of assets, etc., asking you to be a bit more careful,” Alison-Madueke said to Aluko, according to the court filings. “If you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever. You don’t go and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under all kinds of watch.”
Galactica Star interior
The suit was brought by the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which has previously brought cases seeking assets from corruption by Malaysian and Uzbekistan officials, among others.
