Hushpuppi, a popular Instagram user from Nigeria, Ramon Abbas, was found guilty of fraud and received an 11-year prison term.
In its most recent session, the United State Central District Court in California handed down the sentence.
However, because Hushpuppi has already served two years in imprisonment since his arrest in 2020, he will serve a total of nine years in prison.
A joint team from the Dubai Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States detained the social media influencer in Dubai in June 2020 for allegedly defrauding a number of victims, including Americans.
After being extradited, Hushpuppi was accused of numerous offenses including hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.
In July 2021, Hushpuppi entered a plea agreement with U.S. authorities and admitted guilt to allegations of multimillion-dollar fraud.
Hushpuppi and his attorney Louis Shapiro persuaded U.S. federal judge Otis D. Wright to postpone his sentence in September 2022; following several appeals, bringing the most recent hearing to November 3.
Since Hushpuppi’s conviction in 2021, the date of his sentence had been postponed four times.
Valentine’s sentencing was initially scheduled for February 14 before being moved to July 11; then September 21 before being carried out on November 3, 2022.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden would exert appropriate pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure free and fair elections in 2023, according to former Goodluck Jonathan adviser Reno Omokri.
Reno Omokri made this claim in an interview with Channels TV’s Politics Today, on Thursday, November 3, 2022.
“Atiku Abubakar’s visit was an invitation by the United States government to have a briefing with him. He met with the US Assistant Secretary of State. The meeting was hosted by the State Department. But there were several other people from different branches of the executive arm of the United States treasury, departments of justice, defence, etc.
“They talked about their plans and how they will liaise with Nigeria. And they want to hear from him, like how he intends to handle Nigeria’s US relationship. One of the things he talked about. He talked about the election and how to deliver free and fair elections.
“In the past, they (the US) waited until after the election before they intervened. But this time around, they are going to be watching for comments and actions that may lead to violence so that they would take action. So, what is the action they are going to be taking? There is going to be fair pressure directly from President Biden on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the elections are free and fair,” Omokri said.
