Claim
A page on X.com has claimed that a US court issued a new arrest warrant for Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema over multimillion-dollar fraud.
Verdict
This claim is MISLEADING.
On October 12, the United States government piled more charges on the earlier $20 million bank fraud case against Mr Onyema. Apart from the two arrest warrants issued against Mr Onyema in 2019, there’s no new warrant by any US court recently.
Full Text
A page on X.com known as The People claimed that a new arrest warrant had been issued against Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema.
The Post reads, “Breaking News: U.S. court issues arrest warrant for Air Peace CFO as FBI slams fresh charges on CEO Allen Onyema over multimillion-dollar fraud.
The post on X garnered over 10k views with many reposts on X.
Verification
Checks on the website of the United States Department of Justice confirmed that the AirPeace boss was ONLY charged in a superseding indictment with obstruction of justice for submitting false documents to the government to end an investigation of him that resulted in earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering. Ejiroghene Eghagha, the airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance, was also charged for participating in the obstruction scheme, as well as in the earlier bank fraud counts.
See news organizations that reported this Here and Here.
This Fact Checker also found a report by the People’s Gazette which stated a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ONLY issued an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Ejiroghene Eghagha, the Chief of Finance and Administration of Air Peace.
FACTWATCH traced and discovered that on November 23, 2019, Canadian authorities commenced efforts to execute a corresponding arrest warrant issued for a Nigerian businessman accused of fraud in the United States.
Also, another warrant of arrest was issued against Mr Onyema for alleged money laundering and bank fraud in the United States, court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES showed in 2019.
The warrant was signed by Justin Anand, an American magistrate of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, on November 19. The warrant authorized the U.S. Marshals Service to take Mr Onyema into custody.
Conclusion
Aside from the two arrest warrants in 2019, no new warrant has been issued against Mr Onyema recently.
Credit: FactWatch
