Ms Mayfield pleaded guilty to one of the eight counts filed
against her by the U.S. government at the District Court for the Northern
District of Georgia, in Atlanta, on June 29.
The fraud allegedly spearheaded by Mr Onyema was allegedly
perpetrated under the guise of obtaining credit to buy aircraft for Air Peace,
a frontline Nigerian airline, in the U.S.
Ms Mayfield was accused of helping Mr Onyema to facilitate the
$20 million bank fraud between May 2016 and February 2018 when she worked as
the manager for Springfield Aviation Company LLC, owned by the Air Peace
founder.
U.S. prosecutors accused her of signing and submitting the
false documents used by Mr Onyema to perpetrate the bank fraud in the U.S.
Ms Mayfield, who was arrested on June 7, 2019, for her
alleged roles in the alleged scheme, had previously pleaded not guilty to all
eight charges filed against her in December 2019.
Her trial was, in March this year, rescheduled to start on
August 8.
But weeks before the trial date, she changed her plea from
not guilty to guilty when she appeared before the trial judge, Eleanor Ross, on
June 29.
A copy of the plea agreement she and her lawyer signed with
U.S. prosecutors shows she specifically pleaded guilty to Count 5, which is a
conspiracy to commit credit application fraud.
“The Defendant (Ebony Mayfield) admits that she is pleading
guilty because she is in fact guilty of the crime(s) charged in Count 5,” a copy
of the plea agreement obtained by PREMIUM TIMES read in part.
She risks up to five years’ jail term based on the plea
agreement.
Five years’ imprisonment is the maximum jail term provided
for in Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, under which she was charged
with the offence in Count 5.
There are, however, indications that she would get less than
five years at her sentencing already scheduled for September 21.
The plea agreement said if her “cooperation” with the
government continues to qualify as “substantial assistance”, prosecutors “will
file a motion at sentencing recommending a downward departure from the
applicable guideline range.”
If her cooperation continues to qualify as substantial
assistance after sentencing, the government said, it would again file “a motion
for reduction of sentence.”
The U.S. federal prosecutors in Northern Georgia also agreed
“not to bring additional charges against the defendant with the exception of
charges resulting from or related to violent criminal activity based on any
information provided by the Defendant in connection with the cooperation that
was not known to the Government prior to the cooperation.”
Aside from the risk of a maximum five years jail term she
faces, the plea agreement also recommends she be fined $250,000, or twice the
gain or twice the loss whichever is greatest. The fine is due and payable
immediately.
She will also make full restitution due and payable
immediately to all victims of the offence(s) and relevant conduct.
The plea agreement also recommends the forfeiture of any and
all proceeds from the commission of the offence and any and all property used
or intended to be used to facilitate the offence.
She will be subjected to a mandatory special assessment of
$100, due and payable immediately.
She also, by pleading guilty, gave up the right to plead not
guilty, the right to be tried by a jury, and the right to appeal against her
conviction.
If she is not a U.S. citizen, she stands the risk of being
expelled from the country after completing her jail term.
“The Defendant recognises that pleading guilty may have
consequences with respect to her immigration status if she is not a citizen of
the United States. Under federal law, a broad range of crimes are removable
offences including the offence to which the Defendant is pleading guilty,” the
document said.
But Manubir Arora, Ms Mayfield’s lawyer, confirmed to
PREMIUM TIMES that his client is a U.S. citizen and as such is free from being
removed from the country.
Prosecutors say Mr Onyema recruited Ms Mayfield to act as a
manager of his Springfield Aviation Company LLC, which he allegedly used for
perpetrating the alleged $20 million fraud between May 2016 and February 2018.
Springfield Aviation, according to court documents, was
established by Mr Onyema in the U.S. State of Georgia in April 2016 purportedly
to specialise in “the wholesaling, trading/ and sale of commercial aircraft and
parts”.
Prosecutors say Ms Mayfield was recruited as a manager of
Springfield Aviation with the role of entering into aviation-related contracts
on behalf of the firm, despite her lack of education, training, or licensing in
the review and valuation of aircraft, including aircraft components.
Between November 2016 and October 2017, prosecutors said, Mr
Onyema applied for export letters of credit to cause the transfer of funds from
a Nigerian bank account for Air Peace to Springfield Aviation’s bank account,
“purportedly to fund the purchase of aircraft by Air Peace from Springfield
Aviation”.
“The aircraft that was referenced in each of the export
letters of credit was never owned or sold by Springfield Aviation,” the
prosecutors said.
They added that also the defendants submitted false
documents to Wells Fargo (American bank), including fabricated purchase
agreements, bills of sale, and valuation documents, in support of the letter of
credit to causing the disbursement of funds from Wells Fargo into Springfield
Aviation’s account.
Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and
Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, also face 36 charges at the U.S. court in
connection with the alleged fraudulent scheme.
But they have yet to show up or send a lawyer to represent
them in court.
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