US authorities dissolve Air Peace boss’s US company

US authorities have dissolved Springfield Aviation, the US company owned by Allen Onyema, the chief executive of Nigeria’s Air Peace (P4, Lagos), who stands accused on charges of bank fraud and money laundering worth USD20 million in the United States, reports Premium Times.

Onyema and Air Peace Chief of Administration and Finance Ejiroghene Eghagha face 36 charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and credit application fraud in the US District Court of Northern Georgia, Atlanta Division. According to the November 2021 indictment, Onyema allegedly moved millions of dollars from Nigeria through US bank accounts using fake aircraft purchase documents. He purportedly had used Springfield Aviation, incorporated in Georgia State, in the scheme.

According to the original indictment, Onyema and Eghagha had used a series of export letters of credit to get banks to transfer more than USD20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts controlled by Onyema. The letters of credit were purportedly to fund the purchase of five B737s for Air Peace.

The letters were supported by fake documents claiming that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation, but the company had never owned the aircraft.

After Onyema received the money in the US, he allegedly laundered over USD16 million of the proceeds of the fraud by transferring it to other accounts.

Since the charges were filed, no update has been provided by the US Department of Justice. A spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia declined to comment when contacted by Premium Times.

However, according to a letter by the Secretary of State and the Corporation Commissioner of the State of Georgia, Springfield Aviation was involuntarily or administratively dissolved and its certificate of authority revoked by the office on October 22, 2020, for having failed to file its annual registration fee.

According to Premium Times, Onyema has not visited the US since his indictment. Springfield Aviation’s registration agent did not respond to an August 7, 2020, letter from the Georgian Secretary of State informing him of the state’s intention to dissolve the company and requesting him to show cause why this should not be done.

Apart from Springfield Aviation LLC, Onyema also owns four other international business entities, including Springfield Aviation Company Inc. registered in Canada on August 22, 2018 (with incorporation number 1095798-4); Bluestream Aero Services Inc., also formed in Canada on August 22, 2018 (with incorporation number 1095801-8); and Air Peace Limited (Johannesburg, South Africa) founded on December 9, 2020 (with identification number K2020918092), the newspaper reported.

Neither Onyema nor his spokesman were immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, Springfield Aviatiion’s former manager, Ebony Mayfield, also faces a bank fraud charge in the District Court of Northern Georgia, Premium Times reports. Her trial is scheduled to begin on June 27, 2022.