US indicts Nigerian citizen, five others over alleged $41m inventory market fraud

US prosecutors relish indicted a twin US-Nigerian citizen, Izunna Okonkwo, and five different defendants over an alleged $41 million insider-shopping and selling and inventory-manipulation plan that federal authorities shriek unfolded over almost four years.

Per a commentary printed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Sunday, a federal extensive jury charged the defendants on Friday with shopping and selling securities the usage of fabric personal info between June 2020 and February 2024.

Okonkwo was as soon as charged alongside Muhammad Saad Shoukat (33) and his brothers, Muhammad Arham Shoukat (35) and Muhammad Shahwaiz Shoukat (36) — all twin US-Pakistani electorate — moreover to Daniyal Khan (33), a twin UK-Pakistani citizen.

Prosecutors acknowledged the alleged plan hinged on gain admission to to confidential deal info from inside the US funding banking sector. Courtroom filings identify Sung Woo “Will” Kim, an funding banker taken with mergers and acquisitions within the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industries, because the long-established supply of the guidelines.

Read Also: UK grants temporary visa exemption for Nigerian prison officers amid staffing disaster

Kim allegedly obtained reach little print of on the very least 9 pending transactions sharp publicly traded companies, both thru his declare work on the deals or thru internal communications. Prosecutors acknowledged he unlawfully shared the guidelines with Saad Shoukat, who then traded on it in my thought and thru pals.

Shoukat allegedly handed the pointers to others — in conjunction with Okonkwo — who also traded on the guidelines and profited. The DoJ acknowledged the neighborhood generated on the very least $41 million in illicit beneficial properties from the insider-shopping and selling exercise.

Past insider shopping and selling, prosecutors accused some of the defendants of manipulating the part prices of chosen companies to maximise profits and steer sure of losses. One of the most primary allegations centres on Olema Prescribed pills, a publicly listed company rising a breast cancer drug acknowledged as OP-1250.

Per the indictment, Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat and others sold super volumes of Olema shares and encouraged wider funding. After gaining gain admission to to confidential trial info indicating the drug performed worse than publicly believed, the defendants allegedly altered and falsified the guidelines.

Prosecutors acknowledged they then launched the fabricated info in a technique designed to gain it seem legit and company-generated. The unlock rapidly boosted Olema’s part mark, allowing the defendants to promote super holdings at inflated prices and sidestep attainable losses.

The DoJ also alleged that the neighborhood engaged in same manipulation sharp Opiant Prescribed pills, a company rising treatments for opioid overdoses.

The defendants face a whole lot of counts, in conjunction with securities fraud, conspiracy, insider shopping and selling and market manipulation. If convicted, they might well maybe unbiased each receive most prison sentences of between 20 and 25 years per count, per prosecutors.

The case adds to a rising checklist of fraud-related prosecutions sharp Nigerian nationals or twin electorate within the United States. Earlier this month, US authorities ordered the deportation of Oluwaseun Adekoya after he completes a 20-300 and sixty five days prison sentence for his role in a $2 million monetary institution fraud plan, following convictions on conspiracy and aggravated identification theft charges.