SEPTEMBER 26:Jamie Foxx and Kola Aluko, co-CEO of Atlantic Energy and co-founder of the Made in Africa Foundation ring the NASDAQ opening bell kicking off the kick-off of the Africa50 Fund at NASDAQ MarketSite on September 26, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
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.
Kola Aluko
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 …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
