The US has indicted Izunna Okonkwo, a dual US-Nigerian citizen, alongside five other people of various nationalities with an alleged $41 million stock market fraud in the United States.
Chronicle NG gathered from a statement obtained on the United States Department of Justice website on Sunday that Okonkwo and the other defendants allegedly engaged in insider trading between June 2020 and February 2024.
According to the statement, the six defendants were charged on Friday with participating in a years-long plan to trade securities using substantial non-public information.
The other defendants were identified in the statement as Muhammad Saad Shoukat, 33; his brothers, Muhammad Arham Shoukat, 35, and Muhammad Shahwaiz Shoukat, 36, all of whom are dual US-Pakistani nationals; and his buddy, Daniyal Khan, 33, who is a dual UK-Pakistani citizen.
Speaking on the insider trading scheme, the statement noted, “Kim worked at an investment bank that was actively involved in multiple mergers and acquisitions of publicly traded healthcare and biopharmaceutical companies.
“Kim obtained material non-public information about many of these pending deals, either by working on the deals directly or from others who did.
“Kim illegally shared the information about at least nine of these deals with Saad Shoukat, who traded on that information by himself and through others.
“Saad Shoukat also tipped off others—including Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, and Okonkwo—who similarly traded and profited from the material non-public information. Overall, Saad Shoukat and his co-conspirators received illicit profits from the insider trading scheme totalling at least $41m.”
The statement also alleged that the defendants engaged in what it described as the Olema Manipulation Scheme, adding that “Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and others actively manipulated the stock price of Olema, a publicly traded company focused on developing breast cancer treatment through a drug called OP-1250.
“From the spring of 2021, Saad Shoukat and Arham Shoukat began investing in Olema stock and encouraged others to invest in it.
“After purchasing substantial stock in Olema, Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and others accessed confidential information showing that OP-1250 was less effective than they had hoped.
“They then falsified the OP-1250 data that the co-conspirators had illegally accessed and publicly disseminated it in a manner that made it appear authentic and as though it originated from Olema.
“The release of the false data—which inflated the drug’s perceived efficacy—temporarily caused Olema’s stock price to rise, during which Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and others profited and avoided losses by selling large volumes of Olema shares.”
They were further alleged to have manipulated the stock price of Opiant, another publicly traded company involved in the development of opioid overdose treatment.
The suspects were charged with a variety of offenses, including stock manipulation, conspiracy, and insider trading, according to the statement, and if convicted, they risk maximum jail sentences ranging from 20 to 25 years.
Okonkwo is not the first Nigerian to face fraud-related charges in the United States.
The United States ordered the deportation of Oluwaseun Adekoya, a Nigerian, after he completed a 20-year jail sentence for his role in a $2 million fraud scam.
According to the US Department of Justice, Adekoya was sentenced after a three-week trial in which he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft.
