A Nigerian social media influencer known as “Ray Hushpuppi” to his millions of followers on Instagram flaunted his luxurious lifestyle online for years while committing a series of international online scams and money laundering of millions of dollars, authorities said.
Ramon Abbas, 40, pleaded guilty in April last year to conspiracy to engage in money laundering, the Justice Department said. On Monday, a federal judge in California sentenced him to more than 11 years in prison and order him to pay $1.7 million in restitution to two fraud victims.
On social media, Abbas was seen living a life of luxury complete with private jets, expensive cars and designer clothes.
Abbas was arrested in June 2020 by authorities in Dubai and has been held in federal detention since.
“Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. ‘Hushpuppi,’ targeted both American and international victims, becoming one of the most prolific money launderers in the world,” said Don Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
The Justice Department said Abbas claimed to work in real estate but laundered money from various cybercrimes in which email accounts were broken into to deceive victims into wiring money. In 2019, he helped launder $14.7 million stolen by North Korean hackers from a bank in Malta and funneled the funds to banks in Romania and Bulgaria, prosecutors said.
Abbas also conspired with Ghaleb Alaumary, 37, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a convicted money launderer, to launder millions of dollars stolen from a British company and a British soccer club. He also got a New York-based law firm in October 2019 to wire $922,857 to an account that a co-conspirator.
An Instagram post by Abbas appears to show him wearing a designer watch while driving a luxury car while in Dubai.
(Justice Department)
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In addition, Abbas admitted helping defraud someone in Qatar who was seeking a $15 million loan to build a school.
“By his own admission, during just an 18-month period defendant conspired to launder over $300 million,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “While much of this intended loss did not ultimately materialize, [Abbas’] willingness and ability to participate in large-scale money laundering highlights the seriousness of his criminal conduct.”
