BREAKING NEWs:

Nigeria’s Most Notorious KING of Cyber-fraud, HUSHPPUPI land in America, arraigned in Chicago court in teary eyes…facing 20 year jail term upon conviction for money laundering, hacking, cyber-attack, forgery, Girlfriend (Amira Dyme) disowned him saying ‘Karma is a bitch. He’s a thief’

* Defraud a New York-based law firm of $922,857, scam a financial institution of $14.7million, deceived two million people around the world, to appear in Los Angeles court in few weeks

* Conspired to steal $124million from an English Premier League club, F.B.I, INTERPOL, Dubai Police tracked him, 10 others for seven months before arrest

* Coined America’s million of dollars after hacking into Covid-19 Palliative Fund, Unemployment Insurance through fake website

* Dubai Government confiscate suspect’s 10 buildings, 20 customized automobile vehicles 2021 model, seized over 150 million dirham (30 million pounds) in cash; 100 Gucci perfume (colon) and 50 designers’ wristwatches

* Suspect’s recorded last conversation before apprehension in UAE: “I have suffered so much poverty in Nigeria. My sister died of poverty because my family could not afford her hospital bill. After I have made money, I vowed to spend it anyhow. God punish money”

*BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICA Foreign Bureau Chief

HE LIVED LIKE A KING IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (DUBAI). HIS words were laws in the circle of fraudsters, hackers and cyber-criminals in the Middle-East region. The end finally caved-in for Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a.k.a. “Ray Hushpuppi” notoriously called ‘The Don’, a-37 -year old Nigerian after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I) led a crack team of detectives within the law enforcement agency of Dubai Police in conjunction with the officers representing International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to track the movement, bugging the mobile phones of Hushpuppi and his most wanted network.

Security agents in the know told this reporter that Hushpuppi cried and sang like-a-Kennery bed during his extradition to United States of America. Upon arrival Thursday evening, he appeared before a Chicago court where charges were read to him. He was moved from there back into the federal authority custody for further interrogation as he alongside 10 of his gangs are to be arraigned in Los Angeles court in few weeks from now. An eye witness account in the Chicago court stated that Hushpuppi’s face was laced in tears with visible swollen eyes.

Confirming this development, United States Department of Justice revealed that Hushpuppi was a Dubai resident who flaunted his extravagant lifestyle on social media. He 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. He made his initial U.S. court appearance yesterday morning 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. FBI special agents earlier this week obtained custody of Abbas and brought him to the United States to face a charge of conspiring to engage in money laundering that is alleged in a criminal complaint filed on June 25 by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint seen by our reporter, Abbas maintains social media accounts that frequently showed him in designer clothes, wearing expensive watches, and posing in or with luxury cars and charter jets. “The FBI’s investigation has revealed that Abbas finances this opulent lifestyle through crime, and that he is one of the leaders of a transnational network that facilitates computer intrusions, fraudulent schemes (including BEC schemes), and money laundering, targeting victims around the world in schemes designed to steal hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit describes BEC schemes as often involving a computer hacker gaining unauthorized access to a business’ email account, blocking or redirecting communications to and/or from that email account, and then using the compromised email account or a separate fraudulent email account to communicate with personnel from a victim company and to attempt to trick them into making an unauthorized wire transfer.

“BEC schemes are one of the most difficult cybercrimes we encounter as they typically involve a coordinated group of con artists scattered around the world who have experience with computer hacking and exploiting the international financial system,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “This case targets a key player in a large, transnational conspiracy who was living an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money around the world. As this case demonstrates, my office will continue to hold such criminals accountable, no matter where they live.”

Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said: “In 2019 alone, the FBI recorded $1.7 billion in losses by companies and individuals victimized through business email compromise scams, the type of scheme Mr. Abbas is charged with conducting from abroad. While this arrest has effectively taken a major alleged BEC player offline, BEC scams represent the most financially costly type of scheme reported to the FBI. I urge anyone who transfers funds personally or on behalf of a company to educate themselves about BEC so they can identify this insidious scheme before losing sizable amounts of money.”

“This was a challenging case, one that spanned international boundaries, traditional financial systems and the digital sphere,” said Jesse Baker, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Los Angles Field Office. “Technology has essentially erased geographic boundaries leaving trans-national criminal syndicates to believe that they are beyond the reach of law enforcement. The success in this case was the direct result of our trusted partnerships between the Department of Justice and our federal law enforcement colleagues. These partnerships helped dismantle a sophisticated organized crime group who preyed upon unsuspecting businesses. It is thanks to these partnerships that the American people can feel a bit more secure today.”

The affidavit alleges that Abbas and others committed a BEC scheme that defrauded a client of a New York-based law firm out of approximately $922,857 in October 2019. Abbas and co-conspirators allegedly tricked one of the law firm’s paralegals into wiring money intended for the client’s real estate refinancing to a bank account that was controlled by Abbas and the co-conspirators.

The affidavit also alleges that Abbas conspired to launder funds stolen in a $14.7 million cyber-heist from a foreign financial institution in February 2019, in which the stolen money was sent to bank accounts around the world. Abbas allegedly provided a co-conspirator with two bank accounts in Europe that Abbas anticipated each would receive €5 million (about $5.6 million) of the fraudulently obtained funds.

Abbas and others further conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from other fraudulent schemes and computer intrusions, including one scheme to steal £100 million (approximately $124 million) from an English Premier League soccer club, the complaint alleges.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Abbas would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI led the investigation of Abbas, and the United States Secret Service was also involved and provided substantial assistance. The FBI further thanks the government of the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Police Department for their substantial assistance.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anil J. Antony and Joseph B. Woodring of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in this matter.

The F.B.I is also investigating how Hushpuppi and the group hacked into the website of Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S) where millions of dollars meant for Americans for Covid-19 palliative and Unemployment insurance were stolen.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Government confiscate the suspect’s magnificent mansions (10 buildings), 20 customized automobile vehicles 2021 model, seized over 150 million dirham (30 million pounds) in cash; 100 Gucci perfume (colon) and 50 designers’ wristwatches

Abbas – a Nigerian known to his 2.4 million Instagram followers as “Hushpuppi” – was detained on Thursday night as part of an investigation into money-laundering, cyber fraud, hacking and scamming.

Eleven other suspects were detained during coordinated early morning raids in an operation comprised of officers. Detectives seized more than 150 million dirham (£30 million) when they swooped on the 38-year-old’s apartment as he slept.

Investigators allege Abbas, a former second-hand clothes trader in Lagos, used his Instagram page to project a billionaire’s luxurious lifestyle to attract followers and lure in potential victims. Officers say they found the email addresses of nearly two million victims on dozens of phones, computers and hard drives. More than a dozen luxury cars were seized in the raid along with suitcases full of cash. “The suspects also targeted victims overseas by creating fake websites for well-known companies and banks in a bid to steal victims’ credit card information and then launder the stolen money.”

Investigators say they recovered documents evidencing fraud “on a global scale” worth 1.6 billion dirham (£352 million). The operation, codenamed Fox Hunt 2, came after months of investigation into the group’s activities. Mr Al Jallaf said that detectives in the anti-cybercrime task force were able to track down gang members through false accounts they had created on social media.

Abbas, whose arrest reportedly came after he added a white Rolls Royce to his fleet of luxury cars, once posted a video of himself throwing $100 bills as confetti at a wedding. It is understood that a large proportion of the alleged victims reside in the US, but Mr Abbas is also accused of committing fraud in Europe, America and Nigeria, according to police. He claims to be a property developer but many in Nigeria have become skeptical of his meteoric rise from clothes trader to billionaire real-estate tycoon, according to local media. Mr Abbas previously said he posted photos of his lavish lifestyle to Instagram to help inspire others.

Suspect’s recorded last conversation before apprehension in UAE: “I have suffered so much poverty in Nigeria. My sister died of poverty because my family could not afford her hospital bill. After I have made money, I vowed to spend it anyhow. God punish money”

Hushpuppi girlfriend disown suspect:

A model and alleged girlfriend of Hushpuppi has spoken out in reaction to his arrest. The gorgeous lady called Amirah Dyme took to her Instagram stories to share her opinion on the arrest of her lover for fraud. Speaking about the big spender’s attitude to other people, Amirah claimed that Hushpuppi looks down on those that he thinks are not good enough because they are not making as much money as him. Narrating further, she noted that even though he knew he was living on stolen funds, it never really stopped him from looking down on others. Mocking him, she asked if he likes the orange prison jumpsuit. “Imagine telling someone they’re not good enough to come and sit with the “rich people” because of how they’re dressed when they bought their clothes which their own money while u literally stole the money that you used to buy outfits with from the poor people. Karma is a b*tch. Hope you like orange,” she wrote on her Instagram story.

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