$20m Fraud: Air Peace Founder, Allen Onyema’s ‘Conspirator’ Begs US Court Ahead Of October 28 Sentencing

Ebony Mayfield, a co-conspirator in a $20 million fraud allegedly organised by the founder of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has begged for a supervised release instead of being sentenced to prison.

Ms Mayfield risks five years jail term after pleading guilty to a charge of helping Mr Onyema to sign fake documents in support of his request for a $20 million credit between 2016 and 2018.

She pleaded guilty to the charges before the trial judge, Eleanor Ross, of the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in Atlanta, on 29 June.

The charges include 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.

US prosecutors accused her of signing and submitting false documents used by Mr Onyema to perpetrate bank fraud in the US

Mr Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, also face 36 charges at the US court in connection with the alleged fraudulent scheme.

But they have yet to show up or send a lawyer to represent them in court.

Ms Mayfield’s guilty plea, the trial judge has fixed 28 October for her sentencing.

Ahead of the sentencing, Ms Mayfield’s lawyer, Manubir Arora, on 13 October, filed for a “downward variance” of sentence.

In the document, titled, ‘Sentencing Memorandum and Motion for Downward Variance,’ the defence team asked for “a probated sentence” contrary to imprisonment provided for her offence in the sentencing guidelines.

Ms Mayfield, who was arrested on June 7, 2019, for her 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 8 August.

But weeks before the trial date, she changed her plea from not guilty to guilty when she appeared before the trial judge on 29 June.

Ms Mayfield pleaded guilty to one of the eight counts filed against her by the US government.

A copy of the plea agreement she and her lawyer signed with US prosecutors shows she specifically pleaded guilty to Count 5, which is a conspiracy to commit credit application fraud.

She risks up to five years jail term for the offence if the court chooses to strictly follow the sentencing guidelines.

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.

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.

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