A United States federal court has sentenced Paulinus Okoronkwo, a former General Manager at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to 87 months in prison for accepting a $2.1 million bribe linked to Nigerian oil drilling rights.
The sentence was handed down by US District Judge John Walter, who also ordered Okoronkwo to pay $923,824 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and forfeit $1,039,997, representing proceeds from property tied to the illicit payments.
Okoronkwo, a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria, was convicted in August 2025 after a four-day federal trial on charges of money laundering, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors revealed that the bribe originated from Addax Petroleum, a Switzerland-based subsidiary of China’s state-owned energy company Sinopec, to influence negotiations for favorable drilling rights in Nigeria.
Court documents show the $2.1 million was wired in October 2015 to Okoronkwo’s Los Angeles law firm, disguised as consultancy fees. Evidence at trial indicated that some of the funds were used for personal expenses, including property purchases, and were never reported on his US tax returns.
The case was prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, with support from the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division, underscoring the United States’ commitment to enforcing anti-corruption laws targeting foreign bribery.
