Authorities say that Ray Hushpuppi, a Nigerian social media influencer who is also known as Ray Hushpuppi to his millions followers on Instagram, lived a lavish lifestyle online while engaging in a series international scams and laundering millions of dollars.
According to the Justice Department, Ramon Abbas, 40 pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in money laundering in April 2013. A federal judge in California sentenced Ramon Abbas to more than 11 year imprisonment and ordered him to pay $1.7million in restitution for two fraud victims.
Abbas was pictured on social media living in luxury, complete with designer clothes, expensive cars, and private jets.
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Abbas was detained in Dubai in June 2020 and is currently being held in federal custody.
“Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. “Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. Hushpuppi” was a target for both American and international victims. He became one of the most prolific money-launderers in the entire world,” Don Alway, Assistant Director in Charge, FBI Los Angeles Field Office.
According to the Justice Department, Abbas claimed to be in real estate and laundered money through various cybercrimes. Email accounts were hacked into to deceive victims into sending money. Prosecutors said that Abbas helped to launder $14.7million stolen by North Korean hackers in 2019 from a bank located in Malta. The funds were then funneled to banks in Romania, and Bulgaria.
Ghaleb Alaumary (37), of Mississauga in Ontario, Canada was also part of the Abbas conspiracy to launder millions from a British company as well as a British soccer team. In October 2019, he also obtained a New York-based law office to wire $922 857 to an account belonging to a co-conspirator.
Abbas posted an Instagram photo showing him wearing a designer watch and driving a luxury car in Dubai. (Justice Department)
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Abbas also admitted to helping to defraud someone from Qatar, who was looking for a $15 million loan in order build a school.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors stated that defendant “confessed to laundering over $300 million within an 18-month period.” “While most of the intended loss didn’t materialize, [Abbas] willingness and ability participate in large-scale money laundering highlights the severity of his criminal conduct.”
