Popular Instagram celebrity, Hushpuppi, real name Ramon Abbas has been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by the United States Central District Court in California for fraud and money laundering.
Hushpuppi was arrested in June 2020 in Dubai over an extensive fraud scheme that has robbed victims of their money in the U.S, Qatar, the United Kingdom, and other places.
He was then extracted to the United States where he was charged with fraud and money laundering, multiple counts of hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft. His arrest was highly publicized.
Hushpuppi pleaded guilty
He, however, pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
Following the sentence on Friday, Hushpuppi will now spend only nine years in prison as he had already spent two years incarcerated in the US.
Hushpuppi had appealed to Judge Otis Wright narrating his source of wealth, criminal adventure, and regrets.
He commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for doing a thorough job in bringing him to justice and apologized to his family.
Hushpuppi’s Instagram account where he displayed his lifestyle, was also taken down days leading to his sentencing.
A spokesperson from Meta, said in a statement seen by BBC that his Instagram account was removed because he violated their fraud policies.
He said, “We don’t want anyone to use our apps to defraud or exploit people, and have clear rules against fraudulent activity – including money laundering.
“We disabled @hushpuppi’s account for breaking these rules.”
According to Meta’s fraud policies, they strive to prevent fraudulent activity that can harm people or businesses.
Hushpuppi used to post luxurious images on his Instagram, displaying his expensive lifestyle to his 2.8 million followers.