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How Diezani led a lavish lifestyle, US court papers reveal

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How Diezani led a lavish lifestyle, US court papers reveal

A 91-page “verified complaint” instituted by the Unite State Government before its District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, has revealed that how Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly led a lavish lifestyle, spending millions of dollars on furniture and artworks.

The US Government is therefore seeking an order of the court that will allow for the forfeiture of the funds and assets worth $144m linked to Diezani.

Diezani was said to have led “a lavish and privileged lifestyle,” so much so that she spent “more than one million dollars on furniture, artwork, and other furnishings purchased within the Southern District of Texas, and shipped, in part, to London and Abuja, Nigeria.”

The “verified complaint” which was endorsed by a special agent with US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Elizabeth Crispino, further claimed that the alleged corrupt former minister got those assets through bribes from “an international conspiracy to obtain lucrative business opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.”

The assets said to have been acquired by Diezani between April 2010 and May 2015 include a 65-metre motor yacht, named M/Y Galactica Star; two properties known as 807 and 815 Cima Del Mundo Road, Montecito, Calif; and funds in a couple of companies.

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According to the US document, Diezani allegedly collaborated with Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore, who are businessmen in Nigeria to “launder the proceeds of the illicit business opportunities into and through the United States.”

 

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