Nigerian internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi has been sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to launder millions of dollars from online scams.
Justice Otis Wright II, the United States District Court for the Central District of California who delivered the judgment on Monday, November 7, had found Mr. Abbas guilty of laundering proceeds of a school financing scam, business email compromise fraud, and several other cyber schemes.
The judgment is bringing closure to Hushpuppi’s trial which has spanned two years and four months since he was arrested back in June 2020, at his Dubai hotel apartment.
The judge in Los Angeles had additionally ordered him to pay $1,732,841 (£1,516,182) in restitution to two victims of his fraud activities.
Recall that Abbas had pleaded guilty in April 2021 to a one-count charge of conspiracy to engage in money laundering and after his arrest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in June 2020, he had remained in federal custody since his expulsion from the UAE.
In September, Hushpuppi had contracted a top Washington, D.C. criminal defense attorney, Mr. John Iweanoge, in an attempt to avoid his impending jail sentence of 11 years as suggested by the prosecutors in the US.
Iweanoge is a top Washington, D.C. criminal defense attorney popular among Nigerian suspects charged in the states of Virginia and Maryland.
Abbas had previously been seeking a release on humanitarian grounds, but Judge Otis D. Wright had declined his pleas because Hushpuppi had failed to comply with the extant court rules.
