Kola Aluko,
controversial Nigeria’s oil tycoon has sold his Bel-Air, Los Angeles mansion,
as Nigerian and European authorities investigate him for a series of
money-laundering and fraud-related crimes.
According to Los
Angeles Times and Forbes, Aluko sold the home last week for $21.5 million,
taking a $3 million loss after purchasing the sprawling residence in 2012 for
$24.5 million.
Aluko, 46, apparently sold the residence in an off-market transaction using a limited-liability company. An off-market sale in real estate refers to a property that is sold without any form of public advertising.
Aluko’s former home-
a contemporary-style showplace in the 700 block of Sarbonne Road, Los Angeles,
was designed by architect Paul McClean and built in 2011.
The property sits on more than an acre, has a gated entrance, a subterranean garage and a 132-square-foot infinity-edge swimming pool among other features.
The property sits on more than an acre, has a gated entrance, a subterranean garage and a 132-square-foot infinity-edge swimming pool among other features.
Aluko have been
linked as a business associate of Nigeria’s former Petroleum minister, Diezani
Alison-Madueke, who is also currently under investigation by Nigerian and
British authorities for money laundering and embezzlement.
Shortly after she
became oil minister in 2010, Alison-Madueke awarded Atlantic Energy- an unknown
start-up co-founded by Aluko, a very lucrative contract to fund NNPC’s (the
state oil company) operational costs in four lucrative oil blocks in which the
NNPC owned a stake. In return for providing funding to the NNPC, Atlantic
Energy was to lift the crude produced from the oil blocks, sell it, and
thereafter pay the state-owned oil firm its share of profits.
But there is an
allegation and considerable proof that Atlantic Energy did not make any upfront
funding but lifted crude and that a huge chunk of the proceeds from the sale of
the crude oil did not make it to NNPC’s coffers and, by extension, the Nigerian
treasury.
An email to Kola Aluko to confirm the sale of his Bel-Air property was not responded to as at the time of this post.
An email to Kola Aluko to confirm the sale of his Bel-Air property was not responded to as at the time of this post.
It would be recalled
that last April, Guaranty Trust Bank had filed a bankruptcy suit against Kola
Aluko.
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