FAKE NEWS ALERT: US says Hushpuppi didn’t commit fraud in prison

The justice department in the United States has denied reports that Hushpuppi, the embattled socialite, pulled off a $400,000 fraud from inside prison.

Reports had earlier claimed that US prosecutors indicted Hushpuppi for fresh fraud and money laundering.

The reports alleged that the lawyers presented documents before the US district court of California on Wednesday to show that the Nigerian socialite laundered over $400,000.

It was claimed that the court documents had stated that Hushpuppi participated in the purchase and laundering of economic impact payment debit cards fraudulently obtained from stolen data of US citizens and residents.

“The prosecutors said, between January 28 and March 4, 2022, security officers at the US federal correctional facility observed more usage of the internet by Hushpuppi,” the reports accompanied by documents read in part.

“Knowing that Hushpuppi was arrested for internet-related crimes, they obtained a warrant to record Hushpuppi’s activities.

“It was said that a dedicated system was set up for him and his activities were recorded for seven days.

“While being recorded, Hushpuppi was said to have bought a total of 58 EIP debit cards with a total value of $429,800 on the site and laundered the money through one AJ.”

But according to BBC, Mrozek Thom, director of media relations at the US attorney’s office in the central district of California, said he made inquiries and found the accompanying documents were faked.

“After we looked at the documents contained in posts by social media accounts, the US attorney office of Los Angeles that filed the case against Mr. Abbas didn’t file any such document,” he was quoted as saying.

Hushpuppi, who is known for his luxury life, had been arrested in the United Arab Emirates back in June 2020 alongside 11 of his associates over allegations bordering on hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.

His extradition to the United States had followed after the UAE police detailed his arrest in a special operation dubbed ‘Fox Hunt 2’, where he was accused of defrauding 1.9 million victims to the tune of N168 billion.

The socialite would later plead guilty to money laundering, putting him at the risk of 20 years imprisonment.

Hushpuppi was also in the news in July 2021 after he claimed to have bribed Abba Kyari, the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), to arrest Chibuzo, his co-fraudster.

Although Kyari dismissed the allegation, a probe by the FBI claimed the detective indeed collaborated with Hushpuppi.