Abbas Ramon “Hushpuppi”, a convicted internet fraudster, has filed a notice to appeal the 11-year sentence that was given to him for online fraud and money laundering.
This is stated in court records submitted to the Central District of California’s United States District Court.
Attorney John Iweanoge of Washington filed an appeal on Monday that only challenges the sentence handed down by District Judge Otis D. Wright II.
In addition to receiving an 11-year prison term, Mr. Abbas was also had to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims. In April 2021, he entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering. He was detained by the federal government after being expelled from the United Arab Emirates when he was apprehended in Dubai in June 2020.
“Abbas bragged on social media about his lavish lifestyle – a lifestyle funded by his involvement in transnational fraud and money laundering conspiracies targeting victims around the world,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.
Mr Abbas conspired with Ghaleb Alaumary, 37, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a convicted money launderer, to launder funds derived from various crimes, including bank cyber-heists, business email compromise (BEC) schemes and other online frauds. They also laundered funds stolen from a bank in Malta by providing account information for banks in Romania and Bulgaria.
In 2019, Mr Abbas fraudulently induced a New York-based law firm to transfer approximately $922,857 to an account that a co-conspirator controlled under someone else’s name.
Mr Alaumary was charged separately and pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He is serving a 140-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay over $30 million in restitution.