A US District Court for the Central District of California has finally given an 11-year and 3-month jail term to Nigeria's Ramon Abbas Olorunwa, better known on Instagram as Hushpuppi.
Judge Otis D. Wright II of the United States District Court handed down the sentence to 40-year-old Abbas and also mandated that he pays $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
In April 2021, Hushpuppi entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.
He has been in detention under federal custody after being arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in June 2020 and expelled subsequently.
In a statement issued by the US court about the case, US Attorney Martin Estrada stated that" 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,” Attorney Martin Estrada said.
“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.”
“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.
“Abbas leveraged his social media platforms – where he amassed a considerable following – to gain notoriety and to brag about the immense wealth he acquired by conducting business email compromise scams, online bank heists, and other cyber-enabled fraud that financially ruined scores of victims and provided assistance to the North Korean regime.
"This significant sentence is the result of years’ worth of collaboration among law enforcement in multiple countries and should send a clear warning to international fraudsters that the FBI will seek justice for victims, regardless of whether criminals operate within or outside United States borders.”
Ramon Loves His Family And Would Do Anything For Them- Wife
Regina Manneh, the wife of Hushpuppi's youngest child, begged for her husband's release in an undated letter, claiming that his absence from home had left a gap in the family.
Hushpuppi was detained in June 2020 while Manneh and her four-year-old son were visiting family in Sweden, according to Manneh.
"When I heard about his arrest, my son and I was in Sweden visiting family. Unfortunately, there was a lockdown due to Covid and before we got back to Dubai, he was already extradited to the USA so there was no chance for Raymond to see his father,” she wrote.
Premium Times reports that in her passionate letter of appeal suspected to have been sent to the Judge in October, Manneh described Hushpuppi as “a very active father” who spent much quality time with his son adding that Hushpuppi’s incarceration, “has had a huge impact on us as a family but mostly on our 4-year-old son.”
Ms. Manneh said she had been heartbroken, as Raymond “constantly asks for his father’s whereabouts.”
“As a mother, this breaks my heart for my son because he is at an age where he is aware of things and that his father is not with him physically.”
She disclosed that whenever Raymond had the opportunity to video call his father, “he constantly asks his father if he is on the way”.
“Usually after the call ends, Raymond gets emotional and just hugs me. And all I can do is offer emotional support to my son who is struggling to navigate his feelings during these hard times,” the mother said.
She said her plea for mercy for Hushpuppi was not just for herself, but “for my son and his family”, which depended financially and emotionally on him.
“Not having Ramon here has left a void in Raymond which saddens me,” she said.
Manneh revealed that she had had to start working overtime “to be able to pay for our child’s private school fees and his needs which has been a challenging task.”
"Ramon is a man that loves his family and would do anything for them. He is not perfect, but he is a good man that has made mistakes and he has taken responsibility. I beg this court to have mercy on him not only for me but for his children,” she wrote.
Imams Appeal
According to Premium Times, two Islamic clerics also wrote to the trial Judge to plead for Hushpuppi.
In their separate letters, each described Hushpuppi as a kind, loving, and generous man.
In his letter dated October 8, Mr. Olopede of Madrasat Ridwanu L’Hai-L-Arobiyat Wal Islamiyat, Imisi-Oluwa Mosque, Lagos said that he had known Hushpuppi as a frequent donor to the mosque for 15 years.
Mr.Olopede said Hushpuppi “made himself a willing and available example of hard work and humility for teenagers in his immediate neighborhood”.
“Ramon would usually contribute his part to anything that concerns the mosque, he would offer financial support at every given time when the mosque was holding events,” the cleric wrote.
The cleric said he understood “the enormity of the crime” Hushpuppi committed but called on the judge “to evoke the emotional part of you and beg that you temper justice with mercy.”
He said that he had been told that Hushpuppi had been “cooperative and well-behaved” during his trial.
“I hope the remorse he has shown in the last years makes it a worthy recourse to getting a reduced sentence,” Olopede added.
In a letter to the Judge dated 4 October, another Muslim cleric, Mr. Abdulrasak of the Madrasatul Ahlul-Basit Islamiya, in Maiduguri Borno State, described Hushpuppi as a true philanthropist.
Mr. Abdulrasak said Hushpuppi was known to his congregation in Maiduguri as a man who had lent “hands of assistance to many in our community”.
Hushpuppi, he continued, had "on several occasions " paid for school tuition, provided water wells and boreholes, donated to food programs, and supported the destitute, widows, and orphans.
"We hereby plead and pray to your honor to kindly put the above stated into consideration when tempering justice,” he wrote.
Crime
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