Instagram sensation and 37 years old Raymond Abbass popularly known as Hushpuppi who was arrested in Dubai by UAE security agencies and extradited to the United states to face charges on conspiring 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 club.
Hushpuppi made his first appearance in court in Chicago on Friday. The United State Department of Justice says Hushpuppi is expected to be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks to face criminal charges.
If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Abbas would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The arrest of Hushpuppi and other Internet criminals of recent by the Interpol is aimed at improving cyber security. However, a cross-section of Nigerian youths for reasons far-fetched are sympathetic to the internet fraudster as he flaunts his expensive lifestyle on social media and has become a celebrity even among celebrities despite many Nigerian youths and Business owners in the UAE who are actually productive to their immediate and extended environment becoming at risk of being blacklisted by financial institutions, a move which could make their legitimate transactions in the country problematic.
