Prince Harry, Meghan Markle welcomed to Nigeria by fugitive needed in US for $20M cash laundering rip-off

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had been reportedly welcomed to Lagos, Nigeria by a fugitive needed in the USA for cash laundering and financial institution fraud.

Dr. Allen Onyema, 59, was amongst a small group of officers who greeted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they touched down within the metropolis final Sunday, in line with the Daily Mail.

Onyema is the founder and CEO of Air Peace, a Nigerian provider that Meghan and Harry used on their 3-day tour of the nation.

The charismatic businessman is well-known in Nigeria, however is the topic of a US federal indictment filed again in November 2019.

On the time, the US Division of Justice released a statement saying Onyema was “charged with financial institution fraud and cash laundering for transferring greater than $20 million from Nigeria via United States financial institution accounts in a scheme involving false paperwork based mostly on the acquisition of airplanes.”

Onyema allegedly used the laundered cash, partly, to purchase a Lexus, a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes and designer items at Prada and Louis Vuitton, CNN has reported.

It’s unclear whether or not Harry and Meghan are conscious of the costs filed towards the airline CEO.

Onyema has maintained his innocence, saying again in 2019: “Be relaxation assured that I even have my attorneys on this and these mere allegations shall be refuted.”

“I by no means laundered cash in my life, neither have I dedicated financial institution fraud wherever on the planet,” he additional asserted. “Each Kobo [Nigerian currency] I transferred to the US for plane buy went via the Central Financial institution of Nigeria LC regime and all had been used for a similar function.”

In 2010, Onyema started touring regularly to Atlanta, the place he opened a number of private and enterprise financial institution accounts. 

In keeping with the DOJ announcement, over $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into Onyema’s Atlanta-based accounts from international sources between 2010 and 2018.

“Onyema allegedly leveraged his standing as a outstanding enterprise chief and airline govt whereas utilizing falsified paperwork to commit fraud,” U.S. Lawyer Byung J. “BJay” Pak mentioned within the announcement.

“We are going to diligently defend the integrity our banking system from being corrupted by criminals, even after they disguise themselves in a cloak of worldwide enterprise.”

Harry and Meghan spent 3 days in Nigeria final week after being invited by the West African nation’s chief of protection employees — its highest-ranking army official.

Sources throughout the UK’s Overseas and Commonwealth Workplace told the Daily Mail that Harry and Meghan had been “visiting Nigeria in a personal capability” and that the UK authorities was not concerned in “arranging or facilitating” their actions.  

Nonetheless, critics of the couple claimed the journey imitated a “royal tour” — regardless of the very fact the Sussexes stopped being working royals in 2020.

The tour is claimed to have made each Prince Willian and King Charles “absolutely furious.”

Writer and royal professional Tom Quinn informed the Mirror that “Charles is claimed to be angrier than anybody has ever seen him.”

“Every little thing you may anticipate from an official royal go to was there — the receptions, the visits to colleges and charities, to wounded troopers and the disabled,” Quinn said.