By Emmanuel Obisue
A United States court has sentenced former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) executive, Paulinus Okoronkwo, to seven years and three months in prison for receiving a $2.1 million bribe linked to oil drilling rights in Nigeria.
Okoronkwo was convicted for using his position at the state-owned oil firm to negotiate favourable drilling terms for a subsidiary of a Chinese-owned energy company in exchange for illicit payments.
He was sentenced on Monday by United States District Judge John F. Walter, according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice.
The 58-year-old lawyer was also ordered to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and to forfeit $1,039,997, proceeds from the sale of a property connected to the laundering of the bribe funds. In October last year, he forfeited a $2.5 million mansion in Los Angeles to the U.S. government.
Okoronkwo, a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria, previously served as general manager of the upstream division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. In January 2026, the State Bar of California suspended his law licence.
Investigators said that in October 2015, Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of Sinopec, wired $2,105,263 to an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) held by Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm. The payment was presented as compensation for consultancy services related to a settlement agreement with the NNPC over drilling rights in Nigeria.
According to prosecutors, the engagement letter signed with a Lagos address was a cover to disguise the payment as legitimate legal fees, when in fact it was a bribe intended to secure more favourable financial terms for crude oil drilling operations.
The Justice Department said Addax falsely described the payment as legal services, misled auditors, and dismissed executives who questioned the transaction.
Authorities stated that Okoronkwo channelled the funds through IPO Capital LLC between 2016 and 2018, using the money for personal expenses, including the purchase of a home in Valencia, California. He also failed to report the $2.1 million as income in his 2015 federal tax return.
Prosecutors further said he obstructed justice in 2022 by falsely telling federal investigators that the funds were client monies and not used to purchase property.
