By Dapo Falade
Arrested multi-million dollar cyber fraudster, Ramoni Abass (aka Hushpuppi), has engaged the service of Mark Geragos, former attorney to the late King of Pop Music, Michael Jackson, in his bid to get out of a possible 20-year jail term for his alleged multi-million dollar scam.
The updated on the arrested Hushpuppi was contained in a report, on Sunday, by Naija Standard Newspaper which further stated that the defence lawyer was expected to convince United States Department of Justice on how the suspect can help the government to track similar internet crimes around the world.
Hushpuppi was arrested last month by UAE law enforcement officials, as FBI special agents, last week, obtained his custody and brought him to the US to face a charge of conspiring to engage in money laundering, as alleged in a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles on June 25 by federal prosecutors.
A Nigerian resident of Dubai where he was flaunting his extravagant lifestyle on the Social Media, Hushuppi was arrested, along with 11 others and extradited to the US to face criminal charges bothering on conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from Business Email Compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams.
As contained in the criminal complaint, Abbas and others committed a BEC scheme that defrauded a client of a New York-based law firm out of approximately $922,857 in October 2019.
He and his co-conspirators allegedly tricked one of the law firm’s paralegals into wiring money intended for the client’s real estate refinancing to a bank account that was controlled by Abbas and the co-conspirators.
Abbas also allegedly conspired to launder funds stolen in a $14.7 million cyber-heist from a foreign financial institution in February 2019, in which the stolen money was sent to bank accounts around the world.
He provided a co-conspirator with two bank accounts in Europe that Abbas anticipated each would receive €5 million (about $5.6 million) of the fraudulently obtained funds.
He and others further conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from other fraudulent schemes and computer intrusions, including one scheme to steal £100 million (approximately $124 million) from an English Premier League football club, the complaint alleged.
Other allegations against him included schemes targeting a US law firm and a foreign bank, even as he made his first court appearance Saturday morning in Chicago and was expected to be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
As stated in the report, the case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anil J. Antony and Joseph B. Woodring of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section, just as the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in the matter.
If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Hushpuppi would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
He was however not leaving anything to chances as he was said to be ready to pay any amount in any currency to ensure a vigorous defense in the court.
He thus hired Geragos to help him wriggle out of the multi-million dollar scam and ensure he gets lighter jail sentence, not up to 20 years, as he is willing to cooperate with officials of United States Department of Justice on how to help track similar internet crimes around the world.
Geragos is a popular American lawyer who had variously represented world famous celebrities, including the late Micheal Jackson, Winona Ryder, Chris Brown, Colin Kaepernick and Scott Peterson.
“The FBI’s investigation has revealed that Abbas finances his opulent lifestyle through crime and that he is one of the leaders of a transnational network that facilitates computer intrusions, fraudulent schemes (including BEC schemes) and money laundering, targeting victims around the world in schemes designed to steal hundreds of millions of dollars,” an affidavit stated.
The affidavit described BEC schemes as often involving a computer hacker gaining unauthorised access to a business’ email account, blocking or redirecting communications to and/or from that email account.
The compromised email account or a separate fraudulent email account would be used to communicate with personnel from a victim company and to attempt to trick them into making an unauthorised wire transfer.
“BEC schemes are one of the most difficult cybercrimes we encounter as they typically involve a coordinated group of con artists scattered around the world who have experience with computer hacking and exploiting the international financial system.
“This case targets a key player in a large, transnational conspiracy who was living an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money around the world.
“As this case demonstrates, my office will continue to hold such criminals accountable, no matter where they live,” a US attorney, Nick Hanna, said.
Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said: “In 2019 alone, the FBI recorded $1.7 billion in losses by companies and individuals victimized through business email compromise scams, the type of scheme Mr Abbas is charged with conducting from abroad.
“While this arrest has effectively taken a major alleged BEC player offline, BEC scams represent the most financially costly type of scheme reported to the FBI. I urge anyone who transfers funds personally or on behalf of a company to educate themselves about BEC so they can identify this insidious scheme before losing sizable amounts of money.
“This was a challenging case, one that spanned international boundaries, traditional financial systems and the digital sphere,” said Jesse Baker, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Los Angles Field Office.
“Technology has essentially erased geographic boundaries leaving trans-national criminal syndicates to believe that they are beyond the reach of law enforcement.
“The success in this case was the direct result of our trusted partnerships between the Department of Justice and our federal law enforcement colleagues.
“These partnerships helped dismantle a sophisticated organised crime group who preyed upon unsuspecting businesses. It is thanks to these partnerships that the American people can feel a bit more secure today,” he added.
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