The suspected international fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi, on Wednesday pleaded guilty for money laundering and other charges.
Hushpuppi and 12 other members of his gang were arrested by Interpol in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June last year.
He was later extradited to the United States to face trial for cyber frauds in several countries across the world.
The US prosecutors arraigned the 37-year-old for money laundering, wire fraud and felony among others at the District Court for the Central District of California.
The development was confirmed in a document signed by Hushpuppi; his lawyer, Loius Shapiro; and Acting US Attorney, Tracy Wilkison; among others.
According to the document, Hushpuppi risks 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of $500,000, among others for the crimes.
The document read: “Defendant (Hushpuppi) admits that defendant is, in fact, guilty of the offence to which defendant is agreeing to plead guilty.
“Beginning no later than on or about January 18, 2019, through on or about June 9, 2020, defendant knowingly combined, agreed, and conspired with multiple other persons (co-conspirators) to conduct financial transactions into, within, and outside the United States involving property that represented the proceeds of wire fraud.
“These co-conspirators included the persons referred to in the Information as UICC 1 and UICC 2, as well as other coconspirators not referred to in the Information. The co-conspirators targeted multiple victims and laundered and/or attempted to launder funds fraudulently obtained, and attempted to be fraudulently obtained, through bank cyber-heists,1 business email compromise frauds, and other fraud schemes.
“Defendant understands that the statutory maximum sentence that the court can impose for a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h), as charged in the information, is: 20 years’ imprisonment; a three-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offence, whichever is greatest; and a mandatory special assessment of $100.”
