Hushpuppi sentenced To 11 Years and Three Months in US Federal Prison
As predicted by controversial journalist Kemi Olunloyo, Ramos Abbas Igbalode, popularly known as Hushpuppi has been sentenced to 135months in jail.
Olunloyo took to her Twitter page on Tuesday, November 1st to give an update on the internet fraudster, stating that Hushpuppi was to be sentenced to 11 years in a US prison, but he will spend nine years because of the two years he’s served will be deducted from the jail-term.
According to the investigative journalist, when he serves the sentence, the internet fraudster will either be sent back to Nigeria or will seek asylum over fears of being harmed by suspended Deputy Police Commissioner, Abba Kyari whom he gave up.
Confirming her predictions, the United States District Court sitting in the Central District of California on Monday sentenced the convicted Hushpuppi to 11 years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars from online scams.
Justice Otis Wright II, of the United States District Court for the Central District of California who delivered the judgment on Monday, found Hushpuppi guilty of laundering proceeds of school financing scam, business email compromise fraud and other cyber schemes
The judgment draws the curtain on Hushpuppi’s trial spanning two years and four months since his arrest in June 2020 at his Dubai hotel apartment.
The judge in Los Angeles also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 (£1,516,182) in restitution to two fraud victims.
Judge Wright II claimed that Hushpuppi intended to boast about his lavish, crime-funded lifestyle while using online scams to launder tens of millions of dollars.
“Money laundering and business email compromise scams are a massive international crime problem, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement and international partners to identify and prosecute those involved, wherever they may be,” said the Judge.
Meanwhile, Premium Times, reported that Hushpuppi’s wife, Regina Manneh, and two Imams, wrote separately from Lagos and Borno states to the US district court to beg for leniency.
According to the platform, the letter by the Imam of Imisi-Oluwa Mosque, Lagos, Rasaq Olopede, described Hushpuppi as “a frequent donator” to the mosque, pleading for a lighter Sentence but it still all amounted to 11years in jail.
Hushpuppi was arrested in 2020 on several counts of cybercrime. He filed a guilty plea to charges of multi-million dollar fraud in April 2021, according to court papers published by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
In April 2021, ten months after his June 2020 arrest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abbas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct money laundering.
