The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia has denied Nigerian media reports claiming that the case against Air Peace chairman and CEO Allen Onyema, along with the airline’s chief of administration and finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, has been dismissed.
In response to inquiries from *ch-aviation*, the public affairs office confirmed, “The case against Allen Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha has not been dismissed, and […] the two were charged in a superseding indictment for obstruction of justice”
Arrest warrants have been issued for Onyema and Eghagha following their indictment for obstruction of justice.
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They are accused of submitting false documents to interfere with a federal investigation, which resulted in 35 charges of bank fraud and money laundering in 2019.
Several Nigerian media outlets reported on October 22 that the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia had “exonerated” Onyema of any business fraud, asserting that the court found “no loss to any bank” related to the indictment.
These reports referenced statements from law firm AO Alegho and Co made in 2022, following the sentencing of US citizen Ebony Mayfield, who received three years of probation and a USD 4,000 fine after pleading guilty to submitting fraudulent documents in connection with an Air Peace aircraft transaction.
Mayfield was a former employee of Springfield Aviation Company, owned by Onyema, which is linked to a fraudulent USD 20 million transaction involving five B737 aircraft in May 2016.
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