Alhaji Abubakar Rajab says he released a combined $650,000 beginning in 2008, money he believed would be used to build a chain of ten Lukoil-branded gas stations across the United States. What he got instead, he claims, was years of opacity, shifting ownership arrangements, and mounting evidence that the funds were not handled as agreed.
What happened next is where the accounts diverge sharply. Dosunmu later restructured the ownership so that he became the sole owner of record, a change he says was required by Lukoil’s vetting process and carried out with Rajab’s knowledge. Rajab disputes this version of events.
Financial documents reviewed in connection with the case show that after deducting $46,430 for bank charges, travel, and payments to individuals described variously as lobbyists or facilitators, roughly $600,270 remained available for the project. Of that, $300,000 reportedly went to the franchise seller and $100,000 was paid to Lukoil as a refundable security deposit. The remaining $200,000 needed to complete the purchase was never remitted to the seller. Instead, Dosunmu says he secured that amount through a mortgage on his personal properties, a decision Rajab says was taken without his knowledge or consent.
