Aluko’s $83m fuel debt stalls sale of his luxury house

The sale of Kolawole Akanni Aluko’s plum penthouse condominium, real estate and luxury yacht in the U.S was delayed at the last minute after a new creditor claimed Aluko owes it about $83 million for gasoline and jet fuel. Aluko was said to be living a flamboyant life in US spending a lot in fuelling his private jet, yacht with his friends and relatives.

According to emerging reports the first and likely largest chunk of the proceeds from any sale of the said property will not go to the US Justice Department’s effort to claw back the allegedly illicit funds but would be bound instead for Banque Havilland SA, a small Luxembourg bank that wrote a mortgage against the property shortly before public disclosures emerged that international law enforcement agencies were investigating the owner and his associates.

Aluko was said to have wired about $49 million for the apartment and registered it in 2014 in the name of a shell company he controlled, according to court documents. US judicial report said if the above ownership structure had stayed in place, the U.S. could have sought to claim the property outright. But in September 2015, Aluko’s shell company took out a $35.3 million mortgage from Banque Havilland, guaranteed by the condominium, in exchange for a 25 million euro ($28 million) loan, according to the mortgage document. What Aluko did with the money he borrowed remains unclear.

As a result of Aluko’s financial manipulation the U.S. prosecutors trying to recover proceeds from an alleged $1.5 billion Nigerian fraud may have to wait their turn to get the proceeds of the sale. Aluko’s plum penthouse condominium in one of Manhattan’s most expensive buildings is among the cash, real estate and luxury yacht the U.S. moved last week to seize from Nigerian tycoon Kolawole Akanni Aluko, whom it accuses of laundering money and bribing a foreign official. That’s where it gets complicated.

The apartment in the One57 building was scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on July 19. Spoils of Oil
The U.S. has accused Aluko of laundering the spoils from bribes paid for Nigerian oil contracts, notably by buying assets such as apartments in New York and a superyacht. Aluko hasn’t responded in the U.S. court proceeding.

The full payment of the loan was due a year after the mortgage was written, foreclosure filings in New York State Supreme Court show. The payment wasn’t made, according to the documents. Banque Havilland started a foreclosure action in January, which Aluko’s shell company didn’t oppose, and got a New York Supreme Court judgment allowing the action in May.
The U.S. is seeking only funds left over after the bank is paid off, along with any taxes or other assessments owed on the condominium, according to the filing in district court in Houston. The U.S. hasn’t accused Banque Havilland of any wrongdoing. Officials at the bank didn’t respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.

Shortly after Aluko’s mortgage was filed, the U.K. asked Switzerland, where Aluko had his residence, to help their investigation into the Nigerian. In October 2015, British police arrested and then released on bail Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former Nigerian oil minister. Aluko is alleged by the U.S. to have bribed, on suspicion of bribery and money laundering, a spokesman for the Nigerian government said at the time.