Neda Imasuen, chair of the Senate Committee on Ethics that recommended the suspension of Natasha Akpoti, has been stripped of his bar licence in New York, U.S., over allegations of multimillion-dollar fraud and gross misconduct.

A document obtained by Peoples Gazette showed that Mr Imasuen had been disbarred for life in New York after he swindled his client, absconding with representation fees without making an appearance for her in court.

The Gazette spoke with a court officer who said Mr Imasuen was permanently disbarred after collecting money from a client and failing to represent her. He also refused to comply with the disciplinary panel’s attempt to investigate his misconduct.

Daphne Shyfield hired Mr Imasuen to represent her on a matter in 2009 and paid him tens of millions of dollars for legal fees.

Instead of appearing for Ms Shyfield, Mr Imasuen absconded with the money, a move that triggered a morass of petitions, given that his actions contravened existing New York bar code and rules.

Despite being served with petitions on multiple occasions in the U.S., Mr Imasuen failed to respond to any of the petitions and did not ask for an extension of time to file a response.

The Edo South senator, instead, fled to Nigeria with Ms Shyfield’s funds to lay low and escape disciplinary actions from the Grievance Committee, the body responsible for issuing rulings for the infractions of jurists. 

Following several failed attempts to obtain a response to petition files, the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts terminated Mr Imasuen’s licence to practice law in New York.

“Neda B. Imasuen, admitted as Neda Bernards Imasuen, is disbarred, and his name is stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law,” reads a decision of the Grievance Committee on May 10, 2010.

“Neda Bernards Imasuen is commanded to desist and refrain from (1) practicing law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk, or employee of another, (2) appearing as an attorney or counsellor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board, commission, or other public authority,” reads a notice of his disbarment.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, Mr Imasuen, 66,  rode on the waves of the Labour Party to win the Edo South senatorial poll in 2023 and wormed his way to becoming the chair of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions.

That the same man with a 15-year-old history of disregarding petitions was now heading the Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions called into question the integrity —if any, of the people in the nation’s leadership positions.

Last Wednesday, Mr Imasuen was quick to dismiss Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment petition against Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the ground that it did not follow due process.

The Edo senator dismissed the petition as “dead on arrival” because Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan signed the document, which he said violated the Senate rule book. He later accepted it on Friday after the female lawmaker resubmitted it with the signature of her constituent’s member.

Mr Imasuen did not immediately return comments on his New York disbarment.

His disbarment is typical of many Nigerian politicians who commit crimes on foreign soil and flee to Nigeria with fraud proceeds, with which they contest elections.

Former speaker and the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, got his law licence terminated by the State Bar of Georgia in the U.S. over his corruption and ethical lapses. He admitted to stealing $25,000 from his client.

Mr Imasuen’s disbarment by the New York Supreme Court adds yet a new name to the growing list of individuals with tainted pasts occupying high-ranking government positions in Nigeria.