By Ayodimeji Falade
After 2years of legal battle, the self-styled Dubai Gucci billionaire and fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi has finally been sentenced to 11years and 3months imprisonment in the United States of America.
In this report, IkejaBird takes you through Hushpuppi’s journey of luxuries and scam dealings to his final destination in prison in 2022.
Who is Ramon Abass “Hushpuppi”?
Ramon Olorunwa Abbas was born in 1982 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was a petty second hand cloth seller and also a below grade music producer in Lagos.
He earned his name as a yahoo boy around his neighborhood and gradually went into cybercrime at a young age.
He owns a passport of St. Kitts and Nevis which he purchased as a way to get their citizenship.
Hushpuppi, Instagram influencer
Young social media users adored the rich and extravagant Hushpuppi, who motivated his social media fans. He advised them to work hard and enjoy luxury like him. Some suspected him to be a thief and swindler because of his unknown source of wealth. Others lauded him and often showed their love for Hushpuppi.
They labelled him as “king of the street” unknown to many he was spending proceeds from scams.
Gucci Billionaire Hushpuppi
Ramon Abass spent so many millions on the Gucci brand until he earned himself the name “Dubai Gucci Billionaire”.
He was seen countless times going into stores to buy expensive clothes, belts, bags, and shoe amounting to millions of Naira.
Abass was even gifted a Gucci cake during his birthday and endorsed by the brand as well.
Hushpuppi luxury Cars
Ramon Abass “Hushpuppi” was known to be a lover of expensive cars.
Many times he appeared on his Instagram page flaunting expensive cars ranging from Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Babrus and Lamborghini. His car collection is said to be worth about 1billion Naira.
He also flew private jets to private beaches across the world.
Hushpuppi feuds with Nigerians celebrities
At the peak of the Gucci billionaire stardom and popularity, he went head-to-head with celebrities, challenging their wealth and exotic tastes. He described their lifestyle as fake and unmatched to his.
Many celebrities including Davido, Ice Prince, Phyno , Timaya among others were at logger heads with the fraudster.
He was trolled in a song titled “telli person” in 2017 by Timaya, Olamide, and Phyno where they describe him as a swindler and warned him against flaunting his wealth on social media
Hushpuppi scam proceedings
According to report made after his arrest in June 2020, Hushpuppi was the leader of a major criminal network that were involved in many cases of internet fraud, impersonation, email phishing among others.
He was linked to a scam that worth over one million dollars $1,000,000 before he was arrested. Abass was also involved in another $400,000 scam during his detention.
This made him a notable scammer in recent times.
Hushpuppi arrest
Hushpuppi has been on the radar of various government agencies in Dubai and United States. Strict media monitoring was placed on his social media accounts, and agencies have been investigating the fraudster.
He was arrested in June 2020 with six other gang members at his Dubai apartment while they were sleeping.
13 luxury cars worth N2. 640 billion (Dh 25 million), 21 laptops, 47 smartphones, 15 memory storage devices, 5 external hard drives and 800, 000 emails of potential victims were also recovered from the gang.
Their arrest in an operation code-named Fox Hunt 2 came after about four months of painstaking investigations into their activities. Their social media activities were monitored by a highly trained police unit.
Hushpuppi plea bargain
Ramon was headed for 20 years in prison and full restitution but his lawyer Mr. Shapiro entered a plea bargain agreement with the United States government and he pleaded guilty.
Hushpuppi sentence
On the 7, November 2022, a United States Court sentenced Hushpuppi to 135 months imprisonment in federal prison after US District Judge Otis D. Wright II ordered him to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims. After which he may face possible deportation after serving his jail term in 2033.
