A U.S.-based Nigerian, Izunna Okonkwo, has been charged alongside his five allies over $41 million insider trading and market manipulation fraud.

Senior Counsel, Philip Lamparello, in a statement by U.S. Department of Justice, said Mr Okonkwo and his allies were charged for their participation in a years-long scheme to trade securities based on material non-public information (“MNPI”). 

Others charged alongside Mr Okonkwo were Muhammad Saad Shoukat, 33, his brothers Muhammad Arham Shoukat, 35, and Muhammad Shahwaiz Shoukat, 36—all dual-U.S. and Pakistani citizens—and his friends Daniyal Khan, 33, and Gyunho Justin Kim, 32.

“As alleged, the defendants engaged in insider trading and market manipulation on a massive scale—using stolen information, falsified data, and fake press releases to mislead investors and enrich themselves,”  Mr Lamparello said.

He added, “This Office will continue to pursue complex financial fraud schemes that threaten the fairness and transparency of our markets and harm individual investors.” 

Mr Okonkwo and his allies were charged for conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit insider trading, securities fraud, insider trading, amongst other offences that attract cumulative over 100 year prison sentence, according to Department of Justice.

It added that Mr Okonkwo, “Saad Shoukat and other co-conspirators received illicit profits from the Insider Trading Scheme totaling at least $41 million.”

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court,
the charges in the case arise from three overlapping securities fraud schemes that occurred at various points from June 2020 through February 2024: (i) a multi-million-dollar insider trading scheme (the “Insider Trading Scheme”); (ii) a scheme to manipulate the stock price of a biopharmaceutical company developing a treatment for breast cancer (“Olema Manipulation Scheme”); and (iii) a scheme to manipulate the stock price of a different biopharmaceutical company seeking to prevent opioid overdoses (“Opiant Manipulation Scheme,” together with the Olema Manipulation Scheme, the “Market Manipulation Schemes”).