Washington, D.C. — September 3, 2026
A Washington-based lobbying and policy advisory firm that has spent months publicly pressing allegations of historic drug trafficking against Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu says its founder was offered $3 million in exchange for dropping the campaign — an allegation the firm says it plans to refer to federal law enforcement. The same firm also announced Thursday that its managing partner has been appointed to a White House commission by President Donald Trump.
Neither claim has been independently verified as of this writing.
The bribery allegation
In a post on X, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. said its managing partner, Dr. Karl Von Batten, received an unsolicited $3 million offer along with an invitation to a “confidential meeting” in London from an individual the firm says it was told is connected to President Tinubu. The firm says Von Batten declined the offer, preserved records of the exchange, and reached out to associates of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to try to establish the identity of the person who approached him. It says a “smear campaign” against Von Batten began shortly after he refused.
The firm says it intends to turn over the alleged offer and related communications to the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
At this stage, this account rests solely on the firm’s own statement. No independent reporting, court filing, or law enforcement confirmation of the alleged $3 million offer, the London meeting, or its purported connection to Tinubu has surfaced.
It is also relevant that Von Batten-Montague-York is not a disinterested observer in Nigerian politics. Nigerian outlets have reported that the firm was retained by Atiku Abubakar’s camp in March 2026 for work related to Tinubu — meaning the firm is aligned with a political rival of the president it is accusing.
Background: the underlying drug allegations
The bribery claim is the latest chapter in a longer-running dispute over decades-old drug trafficking allegations against Tinubu, which the firm has pursued publicly for months, including in outreach to members of the U.S. Congress.
The core of that dispute traces to Freedom of Information Act requests filed between 2022 and 2023 by researcher Aaron Greenspan, seeking FBI, DEA, and IRS records related to a 1990s Chicago heroin-trafficking investigation. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA’s refusal to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records — a so-called “Glomar response” — was not credible, given that the agencies had already acknowledged related investigations. Judge Howell ordered the agencies to release non-exempt material.
Separately, a 1993 civil forfeiture case saw roughly $460,000 connected to Tinubu forfeited to the U.S. government. Tinubu was not criminally charged in that matter and has consistently described it as a civil settlement rather than an admission of wrongdoing.
Von Batten-Montague-York has since published what it describes as FBI records obtained through the litigation, including a sworn declaration it says the FBI submitted to the court on August 28, 2026. The firm characterizes the declaration as confirmation that a criminal investigation of Tinubu was “officially acknowledged” by the court. That characterization comes from the firm itself, which released the material; it has not been independently confirmed through court records or other reporting reviewed for this report.
Tinubu’s office has not issued a public response to the firm’s most recent bribery allegation as of publication.
The White House commission claim
In a separate post roughly an hour after the bribery allegation, Von Batten-Montague-York announced that Dr. Karl Von Batten had been appointed by President Trump to serve as a Commissioner on an unspecified White House presidential commission.
No independent confirmation of this appointment — through White House announcements, the Federal Register, or other news coverage — could be located as of this writing. The claim currently rests on the firm’s own social media statement.
What remains unverified
- The existence and details of the alleged $3 million offer and London meeting
- Any connection between the alleged offer and President Tinubu or his associates
- The characterization of the alleged “smear campaign” and its origin
- Dr. Von Batten’s reported appointment to a White House commission
What is independently documented
- An active FOIA lawsuit exists over records related to a 1990s heroin-trafficking investigation with links to Tinubu
- A federal judge found the FBI/DEA’s Glomar response not credible and ordered further disclosure
- A 1993 civil forfeiture of roughly $460,000 connected to Tinubu is a matter of public record
- Von Batten-Montague-York was retained by the Atiku Abubakar campaign in March 2026
