Nigerian Instagram celebrity and popular Cyber Fraudster syndicate Ramon Olorunwa Abbas a.k.a. “Ray Hushpuppi” faces may be sentenced to 20 years jail term in the United States.
Hushpuppi is facing criminal charges alleging he conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams.
US Department Of Justice said, “If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Abbas would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison”.
FBI special agent, Andrew John Inmocenti said in a criminal complaint filed before the United States District of California that “beginning no later than October, 15, 2019 and continuing through at least October, 17, 2019, in the country of Los Angeles, in the Central District of California and elsewhere, the defendant conspired to launder proceeds fraudulently obtained from a law firm”.
Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai, UAE June and was extradited to US on Wednesday.
DOJ said he arrived in Chicago on Thursday evening and made his initial US Court appearance on Friday morning in Chicago.
DOJ also said he will be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him on June 25, by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, Hushpuppi and his cybercrime squad was alleged to have committed a BEC scheme that defrauded a client of a New York-based law firm out of approximately $922,857 in October 2019.
DOJ said “Hushpuppi and his cybercrime squad allegedly “tricked one of the law firm’s paralegals into wiring money intended for the client’s real estate refinancing to a bank account that was controlled by Hushpuppi and co-conspirators”.
It said schemes also targeted a US law firm, a foreign bank and an English Premier League (EPL), soccer club.
“The affidavit also alleges that Abbas conspired to launder funds stolen in a $14.7 million cyber-heist in a foreign financial institution in February 2019, in which the stolen money was sent to bank accounts around the world”.
“Abbas allegedly provided a co-conspirator with two bank accounts in Europe that Abbas anticipates each would receive €5 million (about $5.6 million) of the fraudulently obtained funds”.
The complaint alleges “Abbas and others further conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from other fraudulent scheme and computer intrusions, including one scheme to steal £100 million (approximately $124 million) from an English Premier League soccer club”.
Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Los Angeles Field, Jesse Baker said “This was a challenging case, one that spanned international boundaries, traditional financial system and digital sphere”.
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