Hushpuppi has made his maiden appearance in court in Chicago after being extradited to the United States of American to face trial for his involvement in internet fraud and cybercrime.
A statement from the United States Department of Justice confirming the appearance of Hushpuppi in court reads: “A Dubai resident (Hushpuppi) who flaunted his extravagant lifestyle on social media has arrived in the United States to face criminal charges alleging he conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, including schemes targeting a U.S. law firm, a foreign bank and an English Premier League soccer club.
“Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, 37, a.k.a. “Ray Hushpuppi” and “Hush,” a Nigerian national, arrived in Chicago Thursday evening after being expelled from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Abbas made his initial U.S. court appearance this morning (Friday) in Chicago, and he is expected to be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks.”
Abbas was arrested last month by UAE law enforcement officials in an operation tagged “Fox Hunt 2”. The operation unraveled a hidden online fraud network that was committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals, banking fraud, and identity theft.
According to Dubai police, Hushpuppi and his gang which included Woodberry committed fraud amounting to 1.6 billion dirhams (N168bn).
Police seized items worth more than 150 million Dirhams from the gang after taking possession of 21 personal computers, 47 smartphones, 15 flash drives, and 5 hard disks.
If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Abbas would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
