Notice of Supplemental Evidence Pertinent to Pending Motion — USA v. Okojie (Dkt. 67, S.D. Ga.)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia · No. 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC · Doc. 67 · 2023-03-01 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA 
SAVANNAH DIVISION 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
v. 
 
BERNARD OKOJIE 
 
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Case No. 4:22-CR-084 
 
 
GOVERNMENT’S NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL EVIDENCE PERTINENT 
TO DEFENDANT’S PENDING MOTION IN LIMINE REGARDING 
UNDECLARED CASH SEIZED AT AIRPORT  
 
 
On February 28, 2023, the Court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the 
parties’ filings addressing the admissibility of evidence relating to Defendant 
Bernard Okojie’s attempt to take $39,700 in undeclared cash onboard a flight from 
Atlanta to Lagos, Nigeria on December 28, 2020.  See ECF No. 24, 56, 60, 66.  The 
Court has construed the filings as Defendant’s motion in limine seeking to exclude 
the evidence at trial.      
At the hearing, the Government entered four exhibits into evidence pertinent 
to the admissibility of the undeclared cash at the airport.  These exhibits are filed 
under seal to protect the sensitivity of the information therein.   
After the hearing concluded, the Government received additional evidence 
from Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) pertinent to the pending motion.  
Specifically, the Government received a Petition for Remission or Mitigation of 
Forfeiture of Property submitted by the Defendant to CBP on February 24, 2021.  
Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC     Document 67     Filed 03/01/23     Page 1 of 5

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See Exhibit 1 (“Petition”).  In this petition, which is signed by the Defendant under 
penalty of perjury and notarized, the Defendant states the following:  
Claimant [Bernard Okojie] is the rightful owner of said 
property [seized currency in the amount of $39,401 USD 
and $282.75 EURO] which he obtained from his 
employment.  (See Attached Checks.)  Claimant has 
made the withdrawal from his bank account prior to his 
trip.  Claimant had no cause to believe that the property 
was subject to forfeiture.  Said property was acquired by 
Claimant with proceeds obtained through legitimate and 
lawful means. 
 
Petition, ¶ 4 (emphasis and bold italics in original).  
The Defendant goes on and attaches two checks to his Petition to support his 
sworn contention that the seized cash at the airport was sourced from lawful means.  
Most notably, the Defendant attaches a check sent from an individual with initials 
L.J. in the amount of $15,385 to “B&K Freight” on August 11, 2020.  Petition, at 10.  
L.J. is specifically identified in Count One of the Indictment as Individual 7 in 
Paragraph 27g and Paragraph 28e (emphasis added).  See ECF No. 3, Paragraph 
27g and 28e.   
Paragraph 27g alleges that Defendant “appl[ied] for an EIDL for Individual 7 
of McComb, Mississippi, and falsely stat[ed] that Individual 7’s business had 
$244,900 in gross revenue in the twelve months prior to January 31, 2020.”  
Paragraph 28(e) alleges that, in return for filing a fraudulent EIDL application, 
Defendant received a kickback from Individual 7 through a deposit in his bank 
account on August 13, 2020 in the amount of $15,375”, which includes a deduction 
for transaction fees.  This kickback payment is the same exact check that Defendant 
Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC     Document 67     Filed 03/01/23     Page 2 of 5

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submitted to CBP as sworn proof that the seized funds were purportedly gained 
through lawful employment.  The Government also submitted a copy of this same 
check obtained from Defendant’s bank account at the hearing on February 28.  See 
Ex. 4, Paragraph G (showing check obtained from Defendant’s B&K Freight 
account).1   
In short, by filing his sworn Petition with CBP and attaching the check from 
Individual 7 (initials L.J.), the Defendant himself has specifically connected the 
undeclared cash seized at the airport to the charges in the indictment, specifically to 
the allegations in Count 1 (Paragraph 27g and Paragraph 28e).  Accordingly, the 
Government submits that the seized cash at the airport is intrinsic or “inextricably 
intertwined” to the crime charged and admissible at trial.  Given the Defendant’s 
own linking of the seized cash to his kickback payment, the Government is clearly 
not offering the evidence solely to “prove the character of a person in order to show 
conformity therewith.”  Fed. R. Evid. 404(b).  Evidence that constitutes the very 
crime being prosecuted is not that sort.  The Government, therefore, respectfully 
requests that the Court deny Defendant’s request to exclude this evidence and 
determine that it is in fact admissible in the trial of this matter.    
 
1 The other check the Defendant attached to his Petition was from A.L. in the 
amount of $18,435.00 to “B&K Freight LLC” on August 12, 2020. According to SBA 
records produced to Defendant in discovery, an EIDL application in the name of 
A.L. is related by IP address to the EIDL application submitted in the name of 
“Individual 8” identified in the Indictment. See ECF No. 3, Paragraph 27h. The 
Government does not focus on that check in this Notice because the EIDL 
application in A.L.’s name is not specifically identified by name in the Indictment.  
Nonetheless, the Government may enter the check into evidence at trial as part of 
the conspiracies alleged in Count 1 and Count 3.  
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Respectfully submitted this 1st day of March 2023. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
JILL E. STEINBERG 
U.S. ATTORNEY 
 
/s/ Matthew A. Josephson 
Matthew A. Josephson 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Georgia Bar No. 367216 
P.O. Box 8970 
Savannah GA 31412 
T: (912) 652-4422 
matthew.josephson@usdoj.gov 
 
 
/s/ Jennifer A. Stanley  
 
 
Jennifer A. Stanley 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Alabama Bar No. 8400E77T 
United States Attorney’s Office 
Southern District of Georgia 
Post Office Box 2017 
Augusta, Georgia 30903 
T: (706) 826-4525 
Email: jennifer.stanley@usdoj.gov 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC     Document 67     Filed 03/01/23     Page 4 of 5

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 
 
 
This is to certify that I have on this day served all parties in this case in 
accordance with the notice of electronic filing (“NEF”) which was generated as a 
result of electronic filing in this Court. 
Respectfully submitted this 1st day of March 2023. 
 
JILL E. STEINBERG 
U.S. ATTORNEY 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Matthew A. Josephson 
Matthew A. Josephson 
Assistant United States Attorney 
Georgia Bar No. 367216 
P.O. Box 8970 
Savannah GA 31412 
T: (912) 652-4422 
matthew.josephson@usdoj.gov 
 
Case 4:22-cr-00084-LGW-BWC     Document 67     Filed 03/01/23     Page 5 of 5

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