The Nigerian Instagram influencer who flaunted his wealth on social media as @hushpuppi and the Billionaire Gucci Master was ordered to spend the next 11 years in a US prison for his role in a global theft and money laundering scam.
Ramon Abbas, 40, was on Monday sentenced in Los Angeles to 135 months in prison after pleading guilty in April last year to conspiracy to engage in money laundering, which included helping North Korean hackers launder money from their attempts to steal more than US$1.3 billion through cyberenabled bank heists, the US government said.
In agreeing to plead guilty, Abbas waived most of his rights to appeal the sentence, although he can still do so under limited circumstances.
“Everything is on the table,” Abbas’ lawyer John Iweanoge said after the sentencing hearing in Los Angeles, where he suggested an appropriate sentence would have been four to five years.
The prison term “was way, way more than we thought,” he said.
Abbas, born in Nigeria, gained fame in Instagram posts to his more than 2 million followers, often smiling in front of one of his Rolls-Royces or his Ferrari, or kicking back on a private jet.
On gossip blogs, he was known as a “Nigerian big boy,” shorthand for an online fraudster.
“He was an equal-opportunity criminal,” prosecutors said in a court filing, citing his “long history as a scammer and money launderer.”
Abbas’ lawyers painted a picture of a family man and successful businessman who strayed into a world of crime and did little more than provide access to bank accounts to fraudsters.
Abbas told the judge he was in deep financial trouble in 2019 when he accepted offers from some associates to help them launder money.
“I was desperate, your honor,” he said. “I was very desperate.”
He apologized to his victims and promised to repay them in full by selling his two Rolls-Royces, Ferrari and Range Rover.
In his plea agreement, Abbas said he had set up bank accounts in Romania and Bulgaria for Ghaleb Alaumary, a convicted money launderer, through which money from a Maltese bank heist was laundered.
The US charged North Korean hackers with stealing, or planning to steal, 13 million euros (US$13 million) from the Maltese bank.
Abbas also said he had set up a bank account in Mexico to help launder money from e-mail scams that targeted a UK professional soccer club and a UK company.
He also admitted to helping launder money from other victims of fraud, the US said.
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