Security News > 2022 > November > Influencer 'Hushpuppi' gets 11 years in prison for cyber fraud
An Instagram influencer known as 'Hushpuppi' has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring to launder tens of millions of USD from business email compromise scams and various cyber schemes.
The 40-year-old Nigerian's real name is Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, and was ordered to pay restitution of $1,732,841 to two confirmed victims, a law firm in the U.S. and a businessperson in Qatar.
While not all scams succeeded in defrauding the targets, the U.S. Department of Justice says Abbas admitted to prosecutors that over 18 months, between 2019 and 2022, he conspired to launder over $300 million.
"Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. 'Hushpuppi,' targeted both American and international victims, becoming one of the most prolific money launderers in the world," stated Don Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
The proceeds Abbas obtained from this activity helped him build a persona on Instagram showing off a lavish lifestyle, where he gained influencer status, further aiding social engineering attacks against targets.
Abbas' co-conspirator in many of the above schemes, Ghaled Alaumary, pleaded guilty to money laundering crimes in November 2020 and is currently serving a 140-month imprisonment sentence.