Summary

Ms Mayfield's sentencing on Friday brought her trial to conclusion, but the separate case in which Allen Onyema and an Air Peace official are charged with fraud and money laundering remains.

There are two different cases in the same court.

Ms Mayfield had a plea bargain

She was charged in 2019, and she initially pleaded “not guilty” to all eight charges at the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta.

But she changed her plea to plead guilty to one of the charges in June, after entering into a plea agreement that saw the US government drop the seven remaining charges against her.

The law under which she was charged provided for maximum five years jail term for the offence she pleaded guilty to.

Following her guilty plea, her lawyer filed for a variance of sentence on 13 October, begging to be sentenced to a probated sentence or what is called supervised release, instead of imprisonment.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Friday that the US government, in its response, agreed to a lower limit of sentence range, which includes house detention for six months.

At the sentencing on Friday, the judge, Eleanor Ross, after discussing the pre-sentence report with lawyers to the parties, and listening to Ms Mayfield briefly, imposed “a total of THREE (3) YEARS of probation” on her.

The judge also ordered “$4,000 fine (the interest is waived); $100 special assessment; and additional requirements.”

He also gave her limited appellate rights, and noted that she was ready on bail.


Mayfield’s case closed, Mr Onyema’s charges remain

Ms Mayfield’s sentencing on Friday brought her trial to conclusion, the judge said.

But the separate case in which Mr Onyema and an Air Peace official are charged remains.

Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, still have 36 charges of fraud and money laundering pending against them since 2019 at the same court.

Prosecutors said Mr Onyema engaged, Ms Mayfield, a bartender and nightclub dancer, as a manager for his Atlanta, Gerogia-based Springfield Aviation Company LLC in 2016.

The Air Peace founder set up the firm to, purportedly, “specialise in the wholesaling, trading, and sale of commercial aircraft and parts”.

But the US government said, Mr Onyema engaged Ms Mayfield to enter into aviation-related contracts on behalf of Springfield Aviation, despite her lack of education, training, or licensing in the review and valuation of aircraft and aircraft components.

In her plea bargain that she filed in June, Ms Mayfield confessed to signing and submitting fake documents enabling a $20 million credit disbursement from Nigeria to US bank accounts, purportedly for Air Peace to buy five Boeing 737 passenger planes from Springfield Aviation.

The fake documents allegedly submitted by the conspirators included fabricated purchase agreements, bills of sale, and valuation.

Both Air Peace, a major Nigerian commercial airline, and the purported aircraft seller, Springfield Aviation, are owned by My Onyema.

Prosecutors alleged that the aircraft referenced in the letters of credit and other fake documents submitted with respect to the deal were already owned by Air Peace. None of them ever belonged to Springfield Aviation, the prosecution said

They also alleged that Mr Onyema founded and used Springfield Aviation “to facilitate large transfers of funds from his Nigerian bank accounts to the United States.”

Mr allegedly moved about $15 million from Springfield Aviation’s account with a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Atlanta, Georgia, to his personal savings account with the same bank in 27 transactions in 2017.

The flagged 27 transactions took place between 22 March and 29 November 2017.

Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, are facing 36 charges at the District Court in Atlanta, in connection with the alleged $20 million fraudulent scheme.

Among the charges preferred against them are bank fraud, credit application fraud and money laundering.

Each of the flagged 27 online transfers carried out by Mr Onyema within nine months in 2017 involved values ranging from $100,000 to $1 million.

The transactions totalled $15.14 million.

Each of the 27 transactions stands alone as a charge of money laundering.

Under the money laundering charges, prosecutors alleged that both Messrs Onyema and Eghagha, aided and abetted by others, “attempted to engage in a monetary transaction” involving a financial institution, with effect on “interstate and foreign commerce”.

They alleged that each of the transactions involved more than $10,000 “criminally derived from unlawful activities” including bank fraud and credit application fraud.

In November 2020, the government of the state of Georgia dissolved Springfield Aviation over its failure to file its annual registration and/or failure to maintain a registered agent or registered office in this state.

Mr Onyema denied all the allegations of fraud levelled against him when the charges against him were unveiled by the US government in 2019.

Although he said the charges did not reflect his personality as a business owner, he and his co-defendant have yet to appear in court.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/562251-us-court-sentences-allen-onyemas-alleged-fraud-conspirator-to-three-years-probation.html

When USA enter your matter, they must see it out to the end

Ask Ramos Abbas or the aide to Gov Dapo Abiodun.

Allex better not enter USA, cause he would be arrested immediately

Mynd44
Seun
Mukina2

This here, is the truth of the matter.

Two cases in the same court.

One decided, the other is still pending

Cc: Racoon and PrinceofLagos.

Sincerely, I doubted how Mr Onyeama could get out unscathed after reading the charges brought against him by the US.

Only an illiterate would read that useless garbage written by the equally useless newspaper outfit called The Guardian and believe Allen Onyema had been acquitted..

Acquitted by which court? When did he enter trial? Has he been docked?

Ipob terrorists are really brainless

Una too get bad bele

Allen Onyeama but Odogwu. And Odogwu is never a nickname.

Surprisingly, Niger Delta people haven't openly complained that they are looking for their money. What do I know?

seunmsg:
Cc: Racoon and PrinceofLagos.

You will be put to shame again

Ok we dn hear ur own side of the story

PrinceOfLagos:

You will be put to shame again

There is nothing to be put to shame about this n this matter. I saw you and Racoon trying to drag me on the other thread for an old post where I urged Mr. Allen Onyema to go and clear his name. What exactly is wrong in asking someone charged with criminal offenses to go to court and clear himself?

So, why would I be put to shame if he’s cleared? Is that not the purpose of my comment? Why do you guys display so much senseless emotions like this?

If you ever think I made that comment because I want Air Peace to fail, then something is wrong with your head. I’m a good customer of Air peace and I want the airline to keep getting better. As a result, it is in the overall interest of Nigeria that Allen Onyema should be cleared of the charges so that he can concentrate on managing the airline.

seunmsg:


There is nothing to be put to shame about this n this matter. I saw you and Racoon trying to drag me on the other thread for an old post where I urged Mr. Allen Onyema to go and clear his name. What exactly is wrong in asking someone charged with criminal offenses to go to court and clear himself?

So, why would I be put to shame if he’s cleared? Is that not the purpose of my comment? Why do you guys display so much senseless emotions like this?

He can't try to enter USA. He just can't

I can see tinubu and APC urrchins celebrating.. So why are they happy that onyema has not been acquitted? Onyema has so many employees from Yoruba and kogi and other parts of Nigeria, yet these urrchins are celebrating his downfall... Tinubu and APC urrchins are cursed devil's. Tueh!!

davodyguy:
Summary

Ms Mayfield's sentencing on Friday brought her trial to conclusion, but the separate case in which Allen Onyema and an Air Peace official are charged with fraud and money laundering remains.

There are two different cases in the same court.

Ms Mayfield had a plea bargain

She was charged in 2019, and she initially pleaded “not guilty” to all eight charges at the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta.

But she changed her plea to plead guilty to one of the charges in June, after entering into a plea agreement that saw the US government drop the seven remaining charges against her.

The law under which she was charged provided for maximum five years jail term for the offence she pleaded guilty to.

Following her guilty plea, her lawyer filed for a variance of sentence on 13 October, begging to be sentenced to a probated sentence or what is called supervised release, instead of imprisonment.

PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Friday that the US government, in its response, agreed to a lower limit of sentence range, which includes house detention for six months.

At the sentencing on Friday, the judge, Eleanor Ross, after discussing the pre-sentence report with lawyers to the parties, and listening to Ms Mayfield briefly, imposed “a total of THREE (3) YEARS of probation” on her.

The judge also ordered “$4,000 fine (the interest is waived); $100 special assessment; and additional requirements.”

He also gave her limited appellate rights, and noted that she was ready on bail.


Mayfield’s case closed, Mr Onyema’s charges remain

Ms Mayfield’s sentencing on Friday brought her trial to conclusion, the judge said.

But the separate case in which Mr Onyema and an Air Peace official are charged remains.

Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, still have 36 charges of fraud and money laundering pending against them since 2019 at the same court.

Prosecutors said Mr Onyema engaged, Ms Mayfield, a bartender and nightclub dancer, as a manager for his Atlanta, Gerogia-based Springfield Aviation Company LLC in 2016.

The Air Peace founder set up the firm to, purportedly, “specialise in the wholesaling, trading, and sale of commercial aircraft and parts”.

But the US government said, Mr Onyema engaged Ms Mayfield to enter into aviation-related contracts on behalf of Springfield Aviation, despite her lack of education, training, or licensing in the review and valuation of aircraft and aircraft components.

In her plea bargain that she filed in June, Ms Mayfield confessed to signing and submitting fake documents enabling a $20 million credit disbursement from Nigeria to US bank accounts, purportedly for Air Peace to buy five Boeing 737 passenger planes from Springfield Aviation.

The fake documents allegedly submitted by the conspirators included fabricated purchase agreements, bills of sale, and valuation.

Both Air Peace, a major Nigerian commercial airline, and the purported aircraft seller, Springfield Aviation, are owned by My Onyema.

Prosecutors alleged that the aircraft referenced in the letters of credit and other fake documents submitted with respect to the deal were already owned by Air Peace. None of them ever belonged to Springfield Aviation, the prosecution said

They also alleged that Mr Onyema founded and used Springfield Aviation “to facilitate large transfers of funds from his Nigerian bank accounts to the United States.”

Mr allegedly moved about $15 million from Springfield Aviation’s account with a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Atlanta, Georgia, to his personal savings account with the same bank in 27 transactions in 2017.

The flagged 27 transactions took place between 22 March and 29 November 2017.

Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, are facing 36 charges at the District Court in Atlanta, in connection with the alleged $20 million fraudulent scheme.

Among the charges preferred against them are bank fraud, credit application fraud and money laundering.

Each of the flagged 27 online transfers carried out by Mr Onyema within nine months in 2017 involved values ranging from $100,000 to $1 million.

The transactions totalled $15.14 million.

Each of the 27 transactions stands alone as a charge of money laundering.

Under the money laundering charges, prosecutors alleged that both Messrs Onyema and Eghagha, aided and abetted by others, “attempted to engage in a monetary transaction” involving a financial institution, with effect on “interstate and foreign commerce”.

They alleged that each of the transactions involved more than $10,000 “criminally derived from unlawful activities” including bank fraud and credit application fraud.

In November 2020, the government of the state of Georgia dissolved Springfield Aviation over its failure to file its annual registration and/or failure to maintain a registered agent or registered office in this state.

Mr Onyema denied all the allegations of fraud levelled against him when the charges against him were unveiled by the US government in 2019.

Although he said the charges did not reflect his personality as a business owner, he and his co-defendant have yet to appear in court.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/562251-us-court-sentences-allen-onyemas-alleged-fraud-conspirator-to-three-years-probation.html

You want to celebrate again tomorrow you will deny it.
Take life easy o. Air peace is still flying

Hnmmm, and his tribesmen already insulting everyone not knowing the victory won't last a day...

Never in your life trust an igboman..
If you think I am lying, ask asians