Hushpuppi’s trial postponed till 2021 over COVID-19

The trial of Hushpuppi, an embattled Nigerian internet celebrity, earlier billed to commence this month, has been suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Premium Times, the suspension was contained in the orders of Otis Wright, a district judge in California, released on September 23.

The trial will now continue on May 4, 2021.

His case was originally fixed for October 13 after he earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges pressed against him.

Hushpuppi, whose real name is Ramon Abass, is being tried on a four-count charge. In June, the self-acclaimed influencer was arrested with 11 associates after he was alleged to have committed crimes including hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.

The UAE police authorities had shared footage of his arrest in a special operation dubbed ‘Fox Hunt 2’ over cyber-fraud involving 1.9 million victims to the tune of N168 billion.

Following his extradition to the US, he was first arraigned and detained at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), from where he hired a lawyer in defense of himself.

Hushpuppi is known for his luxury lifestyle, which sees him flaunt expensive vehicles, dine with celebrities, and spread pictures of his glamorous home’s state-of-the-art furniture on social media.

His Instagram page, which boasts of over 2.4 million followers, consists of posts of him posing all over the world with luxury bags, a fleet of Rolls Royce’s, private jets, helicopters, yachts, posh watches and also chilling in five star hotels.

Igbalode, who has been accused of cyber-fraud in Europe, America and Nigeria, had once told his followers that he posts about his luxury life to inspire others to make more of their lives.

The coronavirus pandemic has grounded several activities across the globe.

The novel disease has so far killed over one million people globally, according to worldometers.