Owolabi Salis, a U.S.-based lawyer who gained global acclaim for being the first Nigerian to travel to space on June 29, was indicted in 2023 and disbarred by the New York State Supreme Court over a myriad of complaints from clients who accused him of scamming them of tens of thousands of dollars. 

Mr Salis, 62, celebrated in the Nigerian media space for his feat of travelling to space, has a sordid record of defrauding immigrants desperate to remain in the U.S.  The complaints came to a head in 2022 when the Supreme Court of the State of New York disbarred him. 

The Nigerian lawyer, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lagos governorship election three times, failed to appear at his disciplinary hearing in New York without notice to the grievance committee. He did not reach out to the committee, either via phone call or email, according to his disbarment records, as seen by Peoples Gazette. All his belated efforts to stall the disbarment fell through.

“It is ordered that…the respondent, Owolabi M. Salis, is disbarred and his 
name stricken from the roll of attorneys and counsellors-at-law in the State of New York, effective the date hereof and continuing until further order of this court,” stated the disbarment decision in August 2023.

“It is further ordered that, effective immediately, pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90, the respondent, Owolabi M. Salis, is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form,” stated the disbarment sheet.

Still, Mr Salis continued to parade himself as a lawyer, opting to attend to clients in the evening, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who filed seven criminal charges against the Nigerian lawyer.

The bulk of his clients were individuals with immigration issues who were extremely frightened about their right or lack thereof to remain in the U.S. Their situations, they claimed, made them easy targets for Mr Salis’ schemes.

“This defendant(Mr Salis) allegedly continued to practice law after being disbarred for misconduct, and vulnerable immigrants sought his legal assistance,” Mr Gonzalez said.

“Instead of helping them, he allegedly defrauded his clients out of tens of thousands of dollars. We have no tolerance for this kind of alleged conduct, and my office will now seek to hold him accountable. I want to thank the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations for their assistance with the case.”

The 62-year-old space traveller was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Heidi Cesare on August 21, 2023. Some of the charges against him include third-degree and fourth-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal contempt, first-degree scheme to defraud, first-degree immigrant assistance services fraud and the unlawful practice of the law. The Nigerian lawyer was released on bail and asked to return to court in October 2023.

It is unclear whether the case was still active.

On Sunday, Mr Salis was among six people who took a trip to space aboard the Blue Origin spacecraft, which took off from West Texas and reached approximately 105 km altitude, crossing the Kármán line.

The space trip, codenamed NS-33, was undertaken under a new initiative by Blue Origin, an aerospace company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Mr Salis’ disbarment adds to the growing list of Nigerians, like President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Edo Senator Ned Imasuen, who have been disbarred abroad for similar offences of stealing from clients.