November 08, (THEWILL) – Nigerian socialite and internet sensation, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, has been sentenced to 11 years, 3 months imprisonment in the United State for fraud.
The popular Instagram celebrity was jailed on Monday, by the United States Central District Court in California for fraud and money laundering.
A statement issued by the US Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California, said the District Judge, Otis D. Wright II, also ordered Hushpuppi to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
Reacting to the development, United States Attorney, Martin Estrada, said the judgement has strengthened the resolve of law enforcement agencies.
“Abbas bragged on social media about his lavish lifestyle – a lifestyle funded by his involvement in transnational fraud and money laundering conspiracies, targeting victims around the world.
“Money laundering and business email compromise scams are a massive international crime problem, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement and international partners to identify and prosecute those involved, wherever they may be”, he said.
Hushpuppi was in June 2020, arrested in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, over an extensive fraud scheme that has robbed victims of their money in the U.S, Qatar, the United Kingdom, and other places.
He was accused of conspiracy to launder money obtained from business email compromise frauds and other scams, including schemes that defrauded a US law firm of about $40 million, illegally transferred $14.7 million from a foreign financial institution, and targeted to steal $124 million from an English Premier League club.
Until his arrest by the Dubai Police in June 2020 and subsequent extradition to the United States, Hushpuppi posted pictures and videos of his lavish spending on exotic cars, watches, designer clothes, bags from expensive brands like Gucci, Fendi and Louis Vuitton and of himself boarding helicopters, with celebrities, footballers, and Nigerian politicians or while on charter jets.
He claimed to be a real estate developer. He also holds a passport from St Kitts and Nevis.
On the night his apartment at the Palazzo Versace was raided in an operation code-named Fox Hunt 2, Abbas was arrested alongside eleven others in six simultaneous raids, detectives seized more than 150 million dirham (about $40 million) in cash, 13 luxury cars worth Dh 25 million ($7M), 21 laptops, 47 smartphones, 15 memory storage devices, 5 external hard drives and 800,000 emails of potential victims alongside suitcases full of cash.
The arrest was part of an FBI investigation that indicted him as being a ‘key player’ in a transnational cybercrime network that provided “safe havens for stolen money around the world.”
Upon his arrival in the United States on July 3, 2020, he was accused of conspiring to launder ‘hundreds of millions of dollars.’
In a final appeal to Judge Otis Wright, ahead of his scheduled sentencing on September 19, 2022, Hushpuppi wrote a personal letter to the court narrating his source of wealth, criminal adventure and regrets.
He apologised to his family members for bringing them shame while commending the FBI for doing a thorough job, bringing him to justice.
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