Renowned Nigerian Fraudster, Hushpuppi gets 135 months in jail from US. Ordered to pay $1.7m restitution

A United States District Court for the Central District of California has finally sentenced Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas Olorunwa, popularly known as Hushpuppi, to 11 years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars from online scams.

Hushpuppi was on Monday, sentenced by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims. The judgment draws the curtain on Hushpuppi’s trial spanning two years and four months since his arrest in June 2020 at his Dubai hotel apartment. Hushpuppi had in April 2021, pleaded guilty to money laundering. He was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in June 2020 and has remained in federal custody since his expulsion from the UAE.

He admitted to attempting to steal more than $1.1m from someone who wanted to fund a new children’s school in Qatar, court documents in California say. The fraudster tricked his victim into providing funds for the school “by playing the roles of bank officials and creating a bogus website”, according to a statement from the then-acting US Attorney Tracy Wilkinson on the US justice department’s website.

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Abbas also admitted to “several other cyber and business email compromise schemes that cumulatively caused more than $24 million in losses”, the US justice department said.

Abbas had 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,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.

Ramon Abass flaunted his wealthy lifestyle on his page which had 2.8 million followers until it was disabled. The judge in Los Angeles also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 (£1,516,182) in restitution to two fraud victims.