As a public officer, he owed a fiduciary duty to the Nigerian government, the court ruled.
According to the statement, a jury in August 2025 found Mr Okoronkwo guilty of three counts of transactional money laundering, one count of tax evasion and one count of obstruction of justice, following a four-day trial.
The court ordered him to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to forfeit $1,039,997, being proceeds from the sale of a house connected to the laundering of the bribe money.
According to court documents, in October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, transferred $2,105,263 to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) belonging to Mr Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm.
The payment was purportedly for consultancy services related to negotiating a settlement agreement with the NNPC over Addax’s drilling rights in Nigeria.
Prosecutors, however, described the arrangement as a cover for bribery. They said the engagement letter signed between Addax and Mr Okoronkwo’s firm — which bore a fake Lagos address — was intended to disguise the payment as legitimate legal fees in exchange for his influence in securing more favourable financial terms for the company’s crude oil operations.