The office of the US Attorney at the Central District of California has denied viral claims that suspected international fraudster, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi, committed cybercrimes to the tune of about $400,000 while in an American prison.
The court’s Director of Media Relations, Thom Mrozek made the clarification after some earlier reports had claimed that Hushpuppi laundered $400,000 using internet facilities provided by the prison for inmates.
A purported court document showing how popular Instagram celebrity Hushpuppi allegedly committed fraud and laundered over $400,000 from behind bars surfaced online on Wednesday and went viral on Thursday.
However, as earlier reported by Naija News, American cybercrime expert, Gary Warner, has described the reports as fake.
Warner is the Director of Research in Computer Forensics at the University of Alabama, United States.
Mrozek has also followed the line of Warner by urging the public to disregard the viral reports about Hushpuppi committing cybercrime from the prison.
He explained further that the court doesn’t have any record of such happening, neither did the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file any such allegation against Hushpuppi.
The official added that the FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, who quoted in the viral report to have filed the fresh charges against Hushpuppi has been contacted and denied any such activity.
“After looking at the document excerpted in recent media accounts, the document appears to have been fabricated.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which filed the case against Mr. Abbas, has not filed any such document.
“We have checked with the FBI agent who supposedly authored the document, and he confirms it is a fake,” Mrozek told The PUNCH in response to an email inquiry by the publication.
Hushpuppi is currently in an American prison facility after he was arrested in a sting operation and extradited by the Dubai Police based on offences bordering on internet scam, money laundering, among others.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News