HUSPUPPI DENIED BAIL
Alleged Nigerian fraudster, Ramon Abbas aka Ray Hushpuppi, was on Monday, July 13, denied bail by a court in the Northern District of Illinois.
The Instagram celebrity would remain in detention until his trial later this year over money laundering allegations.
His trial would now be held in Los Angeles where the case was filed, instead of from Chicago where the investigation is being handled, Forbes reports.
Huspuppi and his gang reportedly defrauded over 1.9 million victims of hundreds of millions of dollars through business email compromise frauds and other scams.
READ ALSO: HUSHPUPPI: NIGERIANS DENIED ACCESS TO JOBS, TOURIST VISAS IN DUBAI
The Assistant United States Attorney, Melody Wells, convinced the court that Abbas is a flight risk, describing his “significant” financial assets, “deep ties to foreign countries” as well as a lack of ties to the United States as the “perfect recipe to flee the charges that he faces here.”
In his defence, Hushpuppi’s lawyer Gal Pissetzky told the court that his client posed no flight risk, citing his social media credibility.
Pissetzky added that Hushpuppi is a loved and respected celebrity who would not want to ruin his reputation.
Pissetzky argued that Hushpuppi pays for his lifestyle through promoting designer products on social media “Mr Abbas is an Instagram personality. A social media personality. Of course, he poses with high price items because that’s what he gets paid to do.”
“He is an influencer — that is what my kids would call him — an influencer,” Pissetzky argued.
“And people seeing him with these Louis Vuitton bags or clothes, or Gucci bags and clothes, or these fancy cars and they go and want it. They wanna buy it. That’s a job today. As much as it’s hard to imagine — that’s a full-time job.”
Huspuppi and his friend Olalekan Ponle, aka Woodberry, were arrested in Dubai on June 10, in a special operation dubbed "Fox Hunt 2".
READ ALSO: HUSHPUPPI: FRAUD DOES NOT REPRESENT WHO WE ARE AS NIGERIANS - ABIKE DABIRI-EREWA
The operation took down the suspects for allegedly committing crimes outside the UAE, including money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking, criminal impersonating, scamming individuals.
They were extradited to the US where they are facing prosecution.
Comments