Ramon Olorunwa Abbas appeared in federal court in Chicago on Friday. He is accused of conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through cybercrime schemes.
According to a federal affidavit, one of the alleged victims was a client of a New York-based law firm that lost nearly a million dollars in 2019.
Abbas was arrested last month by law enforcement officials in the United Arab Emirates, and the FBI transferred him to the United States this week.
Prosecutors allege that Abbas is one of the leaders of a global network that uses hackers, commercial email compromise schemes (BECs), and money laundering capers to steal hundreds of millions of dollars.
A BEC scheme often involves a hacker who redirects communications from a commercial email account to others in an attempt to lure them into making a bank transfer.
“This case is directed at a key player in a major transnational conspiracy who lived an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money worldwide. As this case demonstrates, my office will continue to hold those accountable. criminals, no matter where they live, “US Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.
It is not clear if Abbas has an attorney.
The Justice Department says that Hushpuppi’s Instagram account, which has 2.4 million followers, shows Abbas on or in front of planes, shopping for luxury brands, posing in front of Rolls Royces, a Ferrari and other expensive cars.
In the biography, Hushpuppi says he is a real estate developer.
The conspirators went after the English soccer team, the feds say.
A criminal complaint filed last month alleges that Abbas and an unidentified person conspired to launder funds from a $ 14.7 million heist from a foreign financial institution in 2019.
Abbas is also accused of conspiring to be part of an attempt to steal $ 124 million from an English Premier League football club. The complaint does not say which team was targeted or if the attempt was successful.
Authorities said it was part of a BEC scheme that defrauded a client of a New York-based law firm of approximately $ 922,857 in October 2019.
The FBI says in the criminal complaint that Abbas and others tricked a paralegal from the law firm into transferring the money earmarked for a real estate refinance to an account that Abbas and his accomplices were using.
Abbas, 37, is being held at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, says the website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He will be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to the Justice Department.
If convicted of money laundering, he would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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