Popular Nigerian internet sensation and socialite, Ramon Abbas, better known as Hushpuppi, has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.
The United States Central District Court in California on Friday sentenced Hushpuppi to 11 years in jail for fraud and money laundering.
He however, would spend only nine years in prison as he has been in prison since his extradition to the United States two years ago.
The Instagram influencer, was arrested in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) in June 2020 over an extensive fraudulent scheme that robbed over a million victims of their monies in the U.S., Qatar, the United Kingdom, and other places. He was then extradited to the United States, where he was charged with fraud and money laundering.
In July 2021, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in money laundering and admitted to conspiring with multiple persons within and outside the U.S to launder the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme perpetrated against persons and businesses in different countries.
Mr. Abbas Ramon, who faced a maximum jail time of 20 years for his offence appealed to judge Otis Wright to temper justice with mercy on the account that he had maintained good behavior and scored high in cleaning activities while in prison. The socialite however bagged only 11 years in prison.
Note that Hushpuppi’s Instagram page, which has 2.8 million followers, has vanished from the image-sharing platform. It is however unclear whether it was officially removed from Instagram or if the page was temporarily disabled by someone with access to it.
Story: Hauwa Mohammed