U.S Department of Justice Recovers $53 Million in Fraud Proceeds Linked to Diezani Alison-Madueke, Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore

The US Justice Department has announced the final resolution of two civil cases seeking the forfeiture of luxury assets that were allegedly laundered in and through the country in a case involving Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, and her associates. It is alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Kola Aluko, a Nigerian businessman, and Jide Omokore, chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, paid bribes to Diezani in exchange for contracts. The US Department of Justice revealed that the forfeited assets, which are “proceeds of foreign corruption offenses”, include $53.1 million in cash and a promissory note with a principal value of $16 million. Court documents state that Diezani used her influence to secure contracts for Aluko and Omokri’s shell companies through a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited. The illicitly awarded contracts totaled more than $100 million and were then laundered in and through the United States to purchase luxury real estate in California and New York, as well as the Galactica Star, a 65-meter superyacht. The real estate was also used as collateral for loans to Aluko and shell companies he controlled. As part of the forfeiture process, those lien holders were paid.