The US government has come out to refute claims that Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi is facing fresh charges for committing fraud while incarcerated.
The documents viewed on social media on Thursday, claimed that the Nigerian Instagram celebrity has been engaging in debit card fraud through a dedicated computer with internet connection supplied to him in the cells. The alleged documents showed that Hushpuppi had purchased 36 virtual and 22 plastic stimulus debit cards with a total of $429,000.
Abbas and his co-conspirators were charged in the California court in 2020 for attempting to “steal more than $1.1 million from a businessperson attempting to finance the construction of a school for children in Qatar–and the subsequent laundering of illicit proceeds through bank accounts around the world.”
He pleaded guilty to the charges on April 20.
Read: Fraudsters Invent New Techniques Using Banks, Paybill Numbers To Scam Kenyans Online
The US government has said the documents which went viral on Thursday were fabricated and no such case had been filed.
Speaking to the BBC, a US Department of Justice spokesman told the BBC that no such document has been filed by the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which filed the complaint against Hushpuppi.
“The document appears to have been fabricated… We have checked with the FBI who supposedly authored the document, and they confirm it is a fake,” an official said.
Hushpuppi’s sentencing was in February postponed to July 11 2022. He is facing up to 20 years in prison.
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