Hushpuppi’s sentencing postponed for the fourth time this year

Image: GH Gossip

The sentencing of international internet fraudster Ramon Abbas, aka, Hushpuppi, has been postponed for the fourth time this year by the United States Attorney’s Office for Central District of California, Los Angeles.

The information was revealed on Tuesday by an official of the court’s Media Relations Unit, Ciaran McEvoy, in response to an email inquiry by Channels Television.

“Abbas’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 3 at 10 a.m. Los Angeles time/6 p.m. Lagos time,” the official wrote.

Since Hushpuppi’s conviction for alleged $1.1m fraud last year, the court has moved his sentence date at least four times. Hushpuppi was initially scheduled for sentencing on February 14, but it was moved to July 11 and to September 21 before being postponed to November 3 this year.

Hushpuppi, 39, had entered a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to charges including money laundering and wire fraud, amongst others brought against him by the court.

According to court documents, he risks “20 years’ imprisonment; a 3-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offence”.

He was arrested in Dubai in June 2020 alongside 12 others and extradited to the US for prosecution.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had indicted suspended Head of Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari, in the Hushpuppi case, but Kyari had denied the fraud allegations.

Kyari was later arrested by the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in February for alleged drug-related offences. The NDLEA has since arraigned the suspended deputy police commissioner.

Remanded at the Kuje prison in Abuja, Kyari and his co-defendants hope to get bail before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Source: channelstv.com

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