Californian authorities deny report that Hushpuppi scammed $400,000 while in detention

CALIFORNIAN authorities have denied the recent claims that Nigerian Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi was engaged in fraudulent activities that earned him as much as $400,000 while he still detained in a US prison.

Last year, Hushpuppi was arrested and charged with fraud by the US Attorney’s Office at the Central District of California. He has since been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing but Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the Los Angeles high court said that the judge has agreed to postpone sentencing for five months following a plea asking for it.

Over the last week, it has been widely reported that Hushpuppi was still engaged in money laundering despite being in detention. However, Mr Mrozek described the reports as false, as the FBI special agent, Andrew Innocenti, who was said to have filed the fresh charges against Hushpuppi said he did not author such a document.

Mr Mrozek  said: “After looking at the document excerpted in recent media accounts, the document appears to have been fabricated. The US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which filed the case against Mr Abbas, has not filed any such document. We have checked with the FBI agent who supposedly authored the document, and he confirms it is a fake."

In June 2020, the Dubai Police in the United Arab Emirates arrested Hushpuppi and his gang and then extradited them to the US for prosecution by the FBI. In a plea agreement document, Hushpuppi pleaded guilty to various offences bordering on internet scam and money laundering in the hope of getting a lenient sentence which could be a three-year period of supervised release, a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offence, instead of the usual 20 year jail term.