(Bloomberg) -- A Swiss aviation billionaire paid the U.S. government $16 million to resolve a dispute over a Los Angeles mansion he acquired from a Nigerian businessman accused of corruption.

The property’s current owner, a company belonging to Thomas Flohr, transferred the cash sum on April 22, according to an order issued by a federal judge in Houston on Monday closing the case. Flohr is the founder and chairman of private-jet provider VistaJet Group Holding Ltd. 

The litigation formed part of U.S. efforts to push for forfeiture of real estate and a yacht initially bought for more than $165 million by Kolawole Aluko, who allegedly acquired the assets with profits generated in Africa’s largest oil producer through bribing a senior Nigerian minister.

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Aluko purchased the 15,000-square-foot, six-bedroom Bel Air mansion for $24.5 million in 2012, according to legal filings. 

Sarbonne Estate Inc., a company controlled by Flohr, told the court it subsequently took over the property in April 2016 to allow Aluko, then a VistaJet client, to settle a $21.6 million debt he owed for “exclusive, owner-like access” to a Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft.

Aluko designed the transaction to conceal or disguise “the proceeds of specified unlawful activity,” the U.S. government said in the lawsuit it initiated in July 2020. The buyer’s existing relationship with Aluko means Sarbonne Estate “knew and/or had reasonable cause to believe” that the property could be subject to forfeiture, it alleged.

Flohr “did not reasonably have cause to believe” that Aluko had acquired the property with funds traceable to crime, Sarbonne Estate countered in court. He understood Aluko to be a wealthy man of legitimate means, the company said.

The U.S. and the Swiss entrepreneur now believe the $16 million cash payment, rather than the sale of the mansion at 755 Sarbonne Road, is the “most efficient way to resolve this claim,” according to an unopposed motion filed by the U.S. government on April 24.

Risk of Confiscation

In reaching the agreement, neither side has admitted any fault, wrongdoing or liability, it said. Sarbonne Estate has agreed to dismiss another lawsuit it filed against the government in May 2020, seeking to ward off the risk of confiscation. 

The Justice Department, Flohr and U.S. lawyers representing the VistaJet chairman and Sarbonne Estate didn’t respond to requests for comment.

VistaJet, which Flohr founded in 2004 with three planes, now operates hundreds of business aircraft that ferry wealthy clients around the world. The company declined to comment on the settlement. Flohr isn’t accused of playing any role in the Nigerian scandal.

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