A United States Court will on February 14 sentence social media influencer Ramon Abbas Olorunwa – also known as Hushpuppi – for his role in laundering an alleged $24million.
Court documents unsealed last July indicated that Hushpuppi could face up to 20 years in prison, and will need to “pay full restitution to the victim(s)”.
According to the online medium Neusroom, Hushpuppi’s will know his fate on Valentine’s Day after almost two years in detention in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and Los Angeles in the United States.
He pleaded guilty on April 20, 2021 and the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the date in an email, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
Hushpuppi, 37, is known for posting photos of his lavish lifestyle on Instagram, where he has 2.5m followers.
Court documents filed in California said Hushpuppi’s crimes cost victims almost $24m in total.
In one scheme, Hushpuppi attempted to steal more than $1.1m from someone who wanted to fund a new children’s school in Qatar, the documents said.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to this charge on 20 April.
The documents state that between 18 January 2019 and 9 June 2020, Hushpuppi and others targeted multiple victims and laundered the illicit funds in banks all over the world.
Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai, where he lived, in June 2020.
In a statement, acting United States Attorney Tracy Wilkinson said Hushpuppi and others faked the financing of the school “by playing the roles of bank officials and creating a bogus website”.
They also “bribed a foreign official to keep the elaborate pretence going after the victim was tipped off”.
Hushpuppi, who she said “played a significant role” in the scam, “funded his luxurious lifestyle by laundering illicit proceeds generated by con artists”.
Kristi Johnson, acting director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said Hushpuppi was one of the “most high-profile money launderers in the world”.
His “celebrity status and ability to make connections seeped into legitimate organisations and led to several spin-off schemes in the US and abroad”, she said.
His guilty plea was “a crucial blow to this international network”.
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