The United States Attorney General’s office has debunked the news making the rounds about fresh allegations of $400,000 fraud allegedly perpetrated from detention by Abbas Ramon, also known as Hushpuppi.
Thom Mrozek, Director of Media Relations, United States Attorney’s Office (Los Angeles), distanced both the attorney-general’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from the fresh allegations against the Instagram celebrity.
The American official provided the clarification in his response to an enquiry sent to him by PREMIUM TIMES early Thursday.
Mrozek, who got our reporter’s initial email at about 7a.m. Los Angeles time, promised to carry out an investigation after this newspaper expressed concerns about the authenticity of the documents in circulation on the Internet.
But many major Nigerian media platforms on Thursday published reports of a fresh court filing by an agent of the FBI, Andrew Innocenti, which purportedly detailed fresh fraud allegations against Mr Abbas.
The content of the document, which claims to have “new information involving Abbas”, had what appeared scintillating investigative details that ended up deceiving many reputable news platforms.
It purportedly accused the former Instagram celebrity of committing fresh credit card fraud from detention, abusing the opportunity given to all prison inmates in the U.S. for “access to phone calls, the Internet and computers with limited and regulated usage.”
“Recorded international activities (reviewed pursuant to federal search warrant issued in this district) of Abbas in the US Federal correctional facility, Central District of California, reflect that Abbas purchased Economic Impact Payment (EIP) debit cards and laundered the proceeds totalling over $400,000,” the document added.
The document also paraded names like Mr Innocenti’s and that of a magistrate-judge of a District Court of Central California, Rozella A. Oliver, which featured in documents previously filed in Hushpuppi’s pending case.
Hushpuppi, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering charge at the same court, is awaiting sentencing slated for July 11.
After extensive review of the document, this newspaper doubted its authenticity. The document lacked the usual headings that usually provide basic details such as the name of the court where the document is filed, the parties, the suit number, and the title of the filing.